Get Over It
by cosettedaae
Summary: Ben and April find themselves in a twisted romance sneaking under the radar of the Parks Department including Leslie and Andy. Ben/April.
1. Chapter 1

_**Author's note: So I realize this is a pretty crazy crackship but they just really seem to work together, I think. This story's essentially just really smutty, but there is a plot (as you can see by how long I've managed to make it.) I'd love to hear what you guys think on the story/pairing et cetera so please feel free to leave a review!**_

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><p>He was perfectly happy beforehand, probably the happiest he'd been since he was a kid. Leslie made him happy. She was cheery and kind and perfect and everyday with her seemed to be better than the last. And it was exciting having to hide it from Chris. It made them even more eager to get their hands on each other when they got to bed later that night.<p>

They had sadly made the unfortunate mistake of dubbing their relationship 'perfect.' Because nothing is perfect and if anything on the entire planet were to be perfect it would never be a relationship. The first rule of relationships is they are never perfect and the sooner you realize that, the better. Ben and Leslie thought what they had was untouchable - they had tons in common and were happy together, what could go wrong?

Well for starters, Ben sometimes got antsy during the day and was much more willing to risk compromising their secret than Leslie was. He liked to push the envelope, she liked to play it safe. They found themselves in the copy room together one day, completely on accident. Leslie had worn a skirt that day and as she stood, spewing off a new idea she had about her campaign for mayor, Ben's hands tried to make their way up her skirt and into her panties.

"Ben! What are you doing?" she gasped and quickly pushed his hand away. "The door's wide open, Chris could walk by. Any one could walk by!"

"Then I'll shut the door," he cooed into her ear.

"No, Ben, not now."

They didn't talk much the rest of the day. And neither of them went home with the other that night. And neither of them texted each other or called each other up. Leslie just whined to Ann and Ben avoided Andy and April.

The next day was Friday and Leslie left Ben a memo that said she was having dinner with her mother and didn't know how good of an idea it would be if Ben came along. Shit. Was she avoiding him?

He popped into her office right before he took his lunch break and shut the door behind him.

"Oh, sorry, I've just been so busy today," she said nervously shuffling papers on her desk.

"Hey, so, I'd be glad to go to your mom's dinner thing tonight, honestly, I want to."

"It's a girl's night thing, Ben, sorry. Maybe some other night," she grinned and looked back down at her cluttered desk. Ben walked around the back of her desk and began massaging her shoulders.

"Ben, I swear to god, Chris is going to see us if you're not careful!" Leslie hissed at him.

"Aww, come on, you're no fun today," he learned down close to her ear and kissed it. "Come on, the storage closet's totally free. Let's go, it's lunchtime, no one will notice."

"I can't now Ben." Leslie stood up and left her office quickly, leaving Ben alone at her desk. He nodded his head and followed her with his eyes until she disappeared.

"Fucking great."

They didn't talk for the rest of the day.

Ben ended up at the Snake Hole that evening. He hated that place without Leslie. He didn't know anyone else there and he figured he could've gotten perfectly drunk at a normal bar or even in the comfort of his own home.

"What are you doing here, loser?" Ben heard the familiar monotone voice next to him at the bar. April had slid in the vacant seat beside him.

"Drinking away my feelings," he said, taking a long drink from his glass.

"Cool." April said. "When are you gonna buy me a drink?"

Ben sighed, he wasn't in the mood to deal with April. "Would you like a drink, April?"

"Yes." She ordered her drink and watched Ben nurse his in silence. "You having a shit day, too?"

"Yeah. I had a fight with uh," he paused remembering that April didn't know about him and Leslie, "my friend."

"That sounds really gay," she nearly shouted over the loud music. "I yelled at Andy today for being a fuckup and he locked himself in our bedroom. So I told him if he didn't come out I'd get drunk and fuck the first stranger I met and he still never came out. So here I am."

"That's fucked up, April."

"Yeah. I'm gonna go talk to that guy over there because you're boring."

Ben watched her totter down the bar and slide in next to a sleazy guy who bought her the same drink Ben just had. He watched her twirl her hair and casually bit her lip while she flirted with this stranger. While doing so he slugged somewhere between five and nine more drinks. April was becoming more and more desirable to him by the second. He could hardly see her through the smokey haze of the bar as she sat behind this sleazy dick who's hand was working it's way up her thigh.

Ben stood up and walked over to her.

"Is this guy bothering you, April?" he said, though he could tell he wasn't. He couldn't think straight, words just began to spew from his mouth.

"Ignore him," April said to the guy. "He's the one who molested me when I was seven."

"Fucking bitch, no I did not!"

"Ben, you can go now."

"No," Ben protested, though he could barely keep himself standing up without holding onto a chair. Maybe he'd had more drinks than he remembered. "Come here." He grabbed her arm and she, surprisingly, followed him.

"You really are a loser aren't you?" she said. "Whatever, that guy was a douche."

"You shouldn't be doing this, behind Andy's back I mean."

"I told him what I was doing. See if I care if he's upset."

Ben didn't really know what he was doing. Nor did he remember much of it the next morning. Ben and April sat a small table in the back corner and had a few more drinks until Ben, seemingly uncontrollably, grasped the back of April's head and pulled her in hard for a kiss. They made out for what felt like hours - neither of them had a good gauge of time - before April pulled back and breathed. "We're so fucking drunk."

Ben snorted out a laugh. "At least you're doing what you promised Andy." Ben continued to laugh but April didn't find it funny. She stood up quickly, wobbling only slightly, and pulled on Ben's tie. He stood up with her and she grasped his hand, pulling him through the crowd and across the club.

"What are you doing?" Ben shouted over the noise.

"We're going to the bathroom." She responded. He didn't understand for a minute. He didn't have to go to the bathroom, though he did have a growing erection that may or may not have needed to be taken care of.

April pushed Ben into the girl's restroom. She checked around to make sure no one was in there. It was empty, though judging by the number of people in the club, someone was bound to come in eventually.

"April, I can't be in here, this is the girl's room."

"Shut up, loser, " she said, as she shoved his unsteady body into the first stall. The second she secured the door he began unbuckling his belt and undoing his pants. She pushed him onto the toilet and straddled him, not wanting to waste any time. She pulled her dress up, moved her panties to the side - not bothering to take them off - and lowered her self onto him.

They fucked quickly. If any one had come into the bathroom neither of them noticed.

"See you at home," April whispered into Ben's ear after she kissed him again, much more passionately this time. She wobbled on her heels out of the bathroom, leaving him alone in the stall, pants still undone and dignity barely intact. He sat in there for a few more minutes, his mind sober enough to think of how entirely awful what he just did was. He'd just been fucked by April on a toilet.

"Fuck!" he hollered, banging his head against the bathroom stall. "Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Someone probably heard him. He didn't care. He rode a taxi back to April and Andy's place, though he wished there was a dark alley for him to sleep in. It took everything in him not to throw up in the cab, and everything else in him not to throw up on April and Andy's front lawn. When he made it into the house he noticed the TV on and then saw April fast asleep on the couch. He sat at her feet and watched her sleep for a few minutes. Andy's loud snores from their bedroom made him want to throw a knife at his door. What kind of asshole would make April sleep on the couch? He clicked off the TV, stumbled into his room and out of his clothes. As he laid in bed, trying to drown out Andy, he heard a noise from the living room. The TV had been turned back on.

_April_, Ben whispered to himself and fell asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

The morning was like nothing had changed. Ben actually for a split second thought all that had happened the night before was a dream. He'd gotten drunk at home, passed out, and dreamt he fucked April. That sounded much more innocent than actually doing it. Though, no matter how hard he tried to convince himself he actually did dream it, one subtle difference that morning changed all of it.

Andy and April seemed to have made up (or, as Ben hoped, never had been fighting in the first place.) The couple were sitting at the small kitchen table snacking on leftover pizza. Andy turned his head to greet Ben.

"Good morning! Want some pizza?" He shoved the pizza box in his hands. Ben declined and put the box in the fridge. Routine.

Though April broke the routine. Usually she had at least something to say to Ben. "God, finally you're up. You're the only one who knows how to work the coffee maker" or "You're finally up, we thought you died" or "Can you go out and get all the stuff for pancakes so you can make pancakes for us?" Something, anything. At least a "hi" or a head nod in response to his "good morning." But this day she did nothing. She was actually avoiding eye contact with him. She lowered her eyes and looked at the pizza, picking it apart and finally slamming her hand onto the table.

"This pizza is disgusting." She pushed the plate away from her like a child who didn't want to finish her broccoli. Ben stared at her. He had done it hadn't he? They'd done it. They'd really fucked. And is this what it was going to be like from now on? He'd have to find a new place to live. Forget it ever happened and carry on with Leslie. But he couldn't avoid April forever, he worked with her. Every time he'd look at Leslie he'd see April out of the corner of his eye glaring or worse, not looking at all.

It was Saturday and Ben had nothing to do. He could go see Leslie. He should go see Leslie. He didn't want to go see Leslie though. He should tell her what happened. No, no, he should pretend it never happened. If neither him or April ever spoke of it again and no one saw and neither of them thought about it (it's not like Ben had a clear memory of it anyways, they were both so drunk) then they could pretend it never happened. Everyone had weak moments; dwelling on them only made it much worse.

Ben chose not to eat breakfast. He made a pot of coffee and went back to his room to drink it alone. He sat cross legged at the foot of his bed, staring at the wall and occasionally glancing out the window. If anyone would've walked it, he would've looked like the biggest loser in the world. Loser. That was April's name for him.

He checked his phone. It was just past ten o'clock, he had a horrible head ache and four text messages and three missed calls from Leslie.

_Hey Benji, want help me draw out the plans for my new park?_

No.

_Plans already finished, lunch maybe?_

No.

_Call me when you're up! :)_

He sighed. And opened up her number on his phone. It took everything he had to actually hit the 'send' button. The phone rang once before Leslie picked up.

"Hey Ben!" she sounded ecstatic, like she hadn't talked to him in months.

"Leslie, hi. How are you?"

"Good, I miss you."

"Yeah, me too. How was dinner with Marlene?"

"Boring. How was your night?"

"Oh, you know... boring. Didn't do anything." He was a horrible liar. His hands began to shake and a cold sweat broke out on his brow. He was so glad this was a phone conversation. "How are your uhh... park plans going?"

"Great. Finished. You should come over to see them. Sorry, I got up at five this morning and had some extra time. You slept in a little though, didn't you?"

"It's Saturday," he snapped without meaning to. "People sleep in on Saturdays."

Leslie laughed in response. Ben couldn't feel his body.

"That's right. I forgot that some people don't do work on Saturdays. I see weekends as workdays where you get to stay at home."

Ben laughed and relaxed a little.

They agreed they'd meet up around lunch time to go over her plans and hangout and have a chance to be a real couple. Ben was already forgetting about April. As he left the house he saw no sight of the happily married couple. Probably having make-up sex. Cool.

Ben spent most of the day at Leslie's. It was nice, just like all of their other weekend visits. Quiet. They usually couldn't risk going out, especially with her campaign for mayor. She had to be squeaky clean or she'd have no chance. Fucking her co-worker does not equal squeaky clean. Dating. They were dating, not just fucking.

It wasn't like real dating though. Not that Ben had even had a real girlfriend in years. Or a serious girlfriend ever. But they didn't go out ever. They stayed in, enjoyed their time together, messed around and parted ways. He could actually count the times he'd stayed the night at Leslie's house on one hand. They'd fucked a bunch more, but actually spent the entire night sleeping in each others arms? Maybe three times. Four tops.

This night was not one of those nights. They did it in her bed, nothing exciting, and watched a bit of TV before Ben made up an excuse to leave.

"April and Andy promised me this nice dinner for helping them pay their bills."

Bull shit. Like April and Andy had ever given Ben any sort of thanks for all he did for them. Except give him a place to live. And April fucked him the night before. Never mind that though.

When he got home April and Andy were on the couch watching TV. Nothing new. It looked like Oprah reruns.

"Hey guys." Ben pulled a beer out the fridge. "You're almost out of beers."

"Hey, oh, I'll go get some," said Andy, not pulling his eyes away from the TV. Ben knew that actually meant. _You'll go get some, Ben, cause you have more than five dollars in your bank account and a real job._

Ben walked closer into the living room. It wasn't Oprah, it was Tyra. Even better. "So where have you been all day man?"

"Leslie showed me her plans for a new park."

"For seven hours?" April said. It was like she was accusing him. None of her business.

"And I had lunch with Chris," Ben stammered out. Lying. He really needed to get over that.

"Gay," April spurted out and Andy laughed. Ben wasn't amused.

"Everyone has gay thoughts, right Ben?" Andy continued laughing, throwing his head back. He would never let Ben forget that one.

"Funny," Ben said sarcastically. "So are one of you going to magically learn how to cook something that's recipe doesn't consist of '2 minutes in the microwave' or are we calling another pizza?"

"Why don't you cook something, Ben, if you're just going to insult our food all the time?" April shot her gaze from the TV and met his eyes. It was frightening. She didn't blink and though Ben began laughing nervously, her flat line mouth didn't falter. She was pissed.

"Maybe I will."

"Ben, you cook?" Andy sounded excited at this new discovery.

"I am a human being Andy. I do, from time to time, need to feed myself."

"Great, what are you cooking for us today?"

Fuck. Ben hadn't cooked anything in years. He looked through the fridge and sighed. "There's no food in here. How do you expect me to cook if there's no food?"

"Go buy something, asshole!" April shouted.

"Fuck off. Order Chinese or something, I'm not hungry anyways." He went to his room and slammed the door. He was throwing a fit.

"What's up with him?" he heard Andy say through the thin walls.

"Hormones," responded April. Cheeky bitch.

Ben sat with his back against the door, finishing off his beer and wishing he had some sort of secret stash. He'd work on that.

He listened to Andy and April argue about what sort of takeout to get. They decided on pizza. How shocking. He listened to their mindless chatter and thought of him and Leslie. There was one thing Andy and April had that Ben and Leslie didn't - normalcy. He felt like crying.

He continued listening as they did the dishes (throwing plates in the sink and turning the water on) and heard them kiss and heard Andy's fat ass sit back down on the sofa and then April whispered something too him like "I'm gonna take a shower." Ben felt himself get hard. No. April was Andy's wife. He had Leslie.

The shower turned on and then he remembered. The two bedrooms in the house shared the single bathroom and both had a door connecting to it. Far too often Ben had mistakenly left his door open and caught glimpses of Andy pissing in the middle of the night. Or vice versa, he'd get up to take a piss and catch glances of April cuddled up into Andy's bare chest.

Ben stood up and walked over the bathroom door. He placed his hand on the knob but paused to consider her reaction when he appeared before her. She'd probably scream. Ben wondered if he'd be able to get his hand over her mouth in time. Fuck. He sounded like a rapist. He just wanted to talk with her. This could be the only chance they'd get to be alone.

He quickly swung the door open and shut it behind him. Eyes to the floor, he didn't hear any noise from April. They met each others eyes. She still had a towel wrapped around her and was in the midst of combing her hair.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing in here?" She didn't sound like normal, uncaring, April - she sounded pissed.

Ben figited and brought his eyes to the ground again. "I-I wanted to talk... about yester- a-about last night."

"Last night was a mistake, Ben. I was drunk and mad at Andy."

"No, no it wasn't a mistake. You enjoyed it, I know it! I did."

"Yeah, cause you never get laid." The funny part was he was getting laid. "And no Ben, I did not enjoy last night. We fucked on a toilet. You could've taken a shit and I wouldn't have even noticed."

"B-but," Ben didn't have anything to say. "You don't want Andy, though."

"Um, yeah I do. He's my husband."

"Andy doesn't know what you want," Ben muttered under his breath. He'd immediately wished he hadn't said anything.

"Oh and you do?"

Ben didn't have anything to say. He was tired of talking. He stepped in closer to her and placed his hands on her bare shoulders, running his fingers across her bare skin. His hands wandered across her collar bone and then down into her cleavage. He hadn't seen her breasts the night before. His fingers danced across where her towel was fastened, neatly disclosing her body from him. She didn't protest. If she didn't want him to, she would've protested. Ben undid the towel and it fell to the floor. April's expression hadn't changed though she was fighting back a naughty grin. Before he knew it he was kissing her again. Her arms were draped across his shoulders, her tongue was going wild and he was frantically trying to steady his fingers so he could get his clothes off. He ran his cold fingers over her curves. She looked beautiful naked. Much more beautiful than his hazy memory of her panting body draped across his in the toilet stall. Much more beautiful than Leslie's.

He slammed her into the shower. It was a very loud shower, Andy wouldn't hear them. Her back hit the wall hard and made a loud bang. April froze but Ben didn't waste any time. He lifted her up and she wrapped her limbs around him for support. It was hard for Ben to stay balanced at first; to fuck April and keep himself from dropping her. Her back kept slamming against the wall, shaking the shower doors.

"Ben," she hissed. "Be careful."

He fucked her harder. Her back slammed into the wall again.

"Ben! Andy'll hear!"

Ben didn't care about Andy. He wouldn't cum if he were 'careful.'

Ben's knees became weak and as he tried to lower April down to change positions she dug her nails into his back and thrusted her hips into his harder. Ben called out in pain and pushed her back into the wall. His shoulders throbbed, it felt like she'd drawn blood.

He came shortly after that and couldn't help but crying out. April pulled his hair into her fists and dropped her feet to the floor. Ben could hardly talk. He stood panting, back against the glass shower door. He was suddenly conscience of the water running and how hot it was. The room felt like a sauna, not only from the shower water but from the heat their bodies had generated. He glanced over at April and noticed she was still catching her breath. He turned the shower water off after a moment, kissed April and walked out of the shower, leaving a trail of water behind him. He grabbed a towel, but he didn't bother to dry off. He didn't want to sit around and talk about anything with April. They had nothing to talk about.

Later that night, after his housemates had gone to bed, Ben found himself lying awake, half-way through with his fourth beer. Thoughts of April filled his mind and Leslie soon became a nonentity. His brain was filled with images of their steamy shower sex and how good he'd fucked her and how he hadn't had sex any where near that wonderful in years. If ever. He found his hand making it's way down his shorts and began to touch himself.

_April_, he breathed.

And then, as if he'd summoned her, she appeared before him, cracking open the bathroom door, standing at the foot of his bed and then cuddling up beside him.

"You're thinking about me?" she said sleepily. "You're pretty pathetic."

"Yeah," he sighed. He turned on his side to face her.

"We can't do that ever again." She said bluntly. "I'm serious."

"Of course," Ben felt his heart drop. He hadn't expected much from April but at least foresaw the occasional fuck whenever Andy was out. Why the hell not? They weren't hurting anybody. Sure they were both in relationships. Everyone needs to break free once in a while. Everyone needs someone who knows how to fuck. "B-b-but, I want to do it again."

"We can't," her voice, as always, was so far from sincere.

"I need you," Ben propped himself up on his elbow and leaned in to kiss her. She didn't protest. He climbed on top of her and began to slide his hand into her shorts. They were boxers. Andy's boxers. Gross.

She'd stopped kissing him by the time his fingers had ran through her. She placed her hands on his chest and pushed him off. "N-no! Get off me," she hissed.

Ben rolled onto his back. He wanted to yell at her, get up and pull her back into bed. She didn't even look back at him. She went right back to Andy, the sensation of Ben's touch still burning in her memory.

"Fuck," he muttered, a bit louder than he should have. He was certain April heard him.

He rolled onto his side and faced where she had just been laying. Tears began to form in his eyes. He was crying. It was futile to wipe them away. "Fuck," he managed to say with a strained voice and he broke down into tears.


	3. Chapter 3

Monday morning came and Ben sat in his office alone and miserable. Leslie had brought him a coffee but he let it sit and get cold so he couldn't drink it any more. April wasn't there yet. He tried not to dwell on it but he kept finding himself switching his gaze absentmindedly between her desk and the entrance to the office.

"Ben Wyatt!" It was Chris, the only person who still addressed him by his full name. How many years had they known each other, now?

"Hmm?"

"How was your weekend?"

Shitty. "Wonderful, and yours?"

"Absolutely splendid. I ran an extra ten miles on Saturday and on my way met a very lovely dutch woman who offered to sell me some homemade banana bread."

Ben tried to look interested. He nodded.

"Unfortunately I had to decline. Banana bread can be very high in sugars. Plus, accepting homemade items from strangers is usually not a good idea."

"Agreed. So, what did you come in here for?"

"I was wondering if you'd made plans for lunch today."

Lunch with Chris? Gay.

"Sort of just a friendly luncheon at the restaurant across the street. Inviting everyone from Parks and Rec. Hope you can join!"

"Oh, I'm not sure. I might be busy." He lied, shuffling papers on his desk. Spending time and bonding with these people, not his favorite thing.

"Ben, if I may object, I think it would highly benefit you to come to lunch today."

"And why's that?"

"Well, you seem a bit distant lately. I hope there's nothing wrong."

"Nope. I'm just always like that." Ben stared down Chris, hoping he'd leave.

"Hopefully you take it into consideration. It would literally mean the world to me!" Chris left, a spark in his step and a smile stretched across his face. Little fucker. Literally. Did he have to say it like that?

Within the next hour, it was nearly eleven o'clock, April finally showed up to work. How she managed to come in so late without getting in any trouble was beyond him. What she was doing all morning was also beyond him, though he had a few guesses. None of that upset Ben, April had her own life - she could come to work when she wanted, it wasn't his place to beat her down. Though what did upset him was perhaps what shouldn't have upset him at all. It was the person April came into the office with, or rather the person she rode piggy back giggling with on her way into work.

Andy, the big buffoon, held April on his back and darted into the room nearly knocking over several stacks of alphabetically organized paper work. April was giggling and screaming and kicking her feet and flailing her arms and shouting "Andy - ahh! - let me down!"

They'd arisen a lot of commotion in the office. Everyone had stopped working and Leslie had even come out of her office to smile and marvel at the young couple and ask what was going on.

"Leslie, there's lava on the floor. April can't touch the ground or her feet will burn." Was he fucking serious? Ben had entered the scene of commotion by then and leaned against the wall, arms crossed against his chest, trying his best not to glare at Andy.

"Is that why you're late? 'Cause the lava slowed you down?"

"Sort of. Why do you care?" Ben looked over at April who's eyes screamed Leave me the fuck alone, I don't want to deal with you now.

Leslie simply stood and marveled at them. Ben could read her mind. Ben figured she was thinking how she wished she were in a relationship like that. Not in one with a man who hated his existence and fucked their twenty-one year old co-worker.

"April Ludgate!" came Chris's chipper voice from across the room. April sighed loudly. She wasn't a fan of Chris. She waved at Andy and he left to go his job. To shine shoes, what a career.

Leslie caught Ben's eyes and said "Ben, I need to discuss the Park plans with you. Can you come into my office?" He sighed. Did he have to? April glared at him as Chris got closer but he followed Leslie into her office.

They stood behind the door, an area where they could not be seen, and kissed quickly. "Are you going to Chris' lunch?" Leslie said, walking over to her desk, still smiling - beaming - at Ben.

"Mmmm, not sure. Probably not," he was trying to focus in on the voices outside the door. Chris was asking April to join them for lunch. There was no way she'd want to go - but then again, free food.

Leslie said something that Ben didn't hear. April said, "Ew no. That restaurant is gross. I'll stay here with Andy, thank you."

"Ben?" Leslie said, Ben's gaze was focused on a stain on the carpet. "Ben, are you alright?"

"Sorry, I-I uh missed what you said."

"I said you should go! We can pretend we're on a date. We never get to go on dates."

"Yeah, a date with all our closest friends watching over us. That probably won't fly, Leslie. I've got a lot to catch up on, you go ahead. Plus, I already made myself a sandwich." He stood awkwardly near her door, waiting for her to respond. She looked disappointed. He decided there was only one more thing he could say to erase all suspicion, "I'll make it up to you tonight." And he left.

Lunchtime came and Chris lead everyone out, Ron pushing his way to the front of the crowd not wanting to miss out on any free food. The office became empty except for Ben and April; him at one side, her at the other. The stared at each other for a moment, not sure what to do. Should they fuck? Should they apologize? Should they ignore each other? Should they arrange some sort of fucking schedule that worked around times when Andy was out of the house?

Ben sent her an email. "Copy room?"

He watched her receive the email, open it, take it in and quickly type back an appropriate response.

"Ew no it's gross in there." Because the toilet seat wasn't gross at all. "Stop being a pussy and come over here and talk to me."

He followed her orders and swiftly stood and walked to her desk. He tried to act as if nothing unusual was happening, just in case someone like Andy was watching.

"You bruised my back asshole," she said to him as he approached her desk.

"Sorry?"

"When you fucked me in the shower and kept slamming me against the wall even though I told you to stop, remember that? Now I have bruises. I could report you for rape or something."

"Except I didn't rape you. You were more than willing."

"I wouldn't say more than willing." Ben didn't have an answer. She was probably right, he had sort of sprung himself at her. But she went along with it. She had dug her nails into his back when he'd tried to put her down. He hadn't inspected his shoulders since Saturday - he'd wondered if there were marks that Leslie would notice. "So why didn't you go to lunch with everyone else? I thought you were a kiss ass?"

"I have work to catch up on-"

"Then why are you harassing me?" April interrupted. Ben - again - did not have an answer. He wasn't harassing her. And couldn't she see he'd stayed behind for her? He never had alone time with her and that's all he's wanted these past few days. On Sunday they didn't speak once except when she threw the empty cereal box at him and told him to throw it away.

"I'm sorry! I-I'll leave you alone. If that's what you want then fine, I'll never talk to you again." He was being over-dramatic and he knew it. She rolled her eyes.

"Shut up," she leaned in closer and lowered her voice. "Let's fuck on Leslie's desk."

Ben's eyes widened. "What!" he nearly screamed. Leslie's desk? Leslie, his girlfriend's, desk. No. No way. April didn't even know they were dating - why would she say that?

"Fine, your desk."

"No-no! April, it's all out and in the-the open. People could see and walk by and see u-us. What the fuck is wrong - w-what is wrong with you?"

"Fine." She looked around trying to find a secluded section of the office. No one was around. Even the the halls seemed empty. It was lunchtime, nearly everyone was gone. Where was Andy? "But we're not doing it in the copy room. That's gross."

"How is that more gross than fucking on someone's desk?"

She shrugged. "Can we do it on Leslie's desk? Please, please, please, please?" She started doing this weird whining thing. She was almost begging him. So she did like it.

"You're fucked up." April didn't respond. "Where's Andy?"

"Shining shoes. He won't bother me."

"Go lock the doors and close the blinds. I'll meet you in Leslie's office." April rushed to the door and Ben walked into Leslie's office. Had he seriously just agreed to this? He looked at her desk and began to move stuff to the side. It was completely cluttered, just like her entire office and her house. The bad part was she'd notice if something were out of place. She's say something like

Ben did you move something in my office?

Yeah, I was just looking for something... uh umm... that thing... the paper with the stuff and the ... yeah, I needed to see it. That would go over well.

April walked in, holding her panties in her hand. A blue lace thong. She dropped it to the ground. Mental note: don't forget to pick that up. Ben hastily pushed more stuff to the side. It would end up looking like someone had ransacked Leslie's office. April sat on the desk and pulled her skirt up. Ben stared at her for a moment and she got impatient.

"Are you gonna fuck me or stare at me?"

"R-right." He felt his hands shaking. The door was wide open and he could see into the entire vacant Parks Department. Someone would walk in. Someone would catch them. He undid his belt and pants as fast as he could with fingers tembling and pulled April forward to slide himself into her. He held onto the back of her neck with one hand and thigh with the other, trying not to make eye contact as she tilted her head back, moaning with pleasure. With every noise Ben heard, be it a car driving by or a door slam down the hall or footsteps from the floor above, he froze.

"You suck!" April shouted at him and began rocking her hips against his as fast as she could whenever he'd stop. She pulled on his hair and he dug his nails into her shoulders for retaliation. His nails weren't near as long and sharp as hers but she cried out softly in pain and hooked her feet around his back and began kicking him. He pushed her onto her back and crawlded up onto the desk, kissing her neck and face and biting her ear. She squealed; a sound that Ben couldn't distinguish between pain or pleasure and decided to consider it a fair mix of both. He fucked her harder; he was so turned on by her pain it was almost sickening. She screamed loudly when she came making Ben cum shortly afterwards. He fall onto her panting, sweat lining his brow as he slowed his thrusts to an eventual hault. He fell back into Leslie's chair and April stood up and straightened her skirt. Ben noticed a wet spot in the center of Leslie's desk. Shit. He'd have clean this mess up. April leaned down onto Ben and kissed him.

"See you at home loser." He watched her walked slowly from the room and sit back at her desk, her ass looked amazing and he remembered the blue thong sitting in the doorway and how she planned on going the rest of the day without panties. He picked the thong up first, stuffing it in his pocket. He'd get her back for that. Stick it in her desk drawer one morning or in the tub of ice cream in the freezer at home that she absent mindly snacked at whenever she had the chance. That was a good one, he'd do that.

He grabbed a few napkins and some Clorox bleach and sprayed down the spot on Leslie's desk where they'd fucked. She'd wonder why it smelled like bleach. Cleaning crew come by. He took the papers that he'd shoved to the side and pushed them in an unorganized pile in the center. She wouldn't notice, it looked like the same mess it had before.

Ben tried to ignore April when he left the office.

"You've got something in your pocket," she said. A bit of blue lace was visible. He pushed it back in further, leaving a distinguishable bulge in his pocket.

"Ew, you're gonna carry my underwear around with you? That's disgusting."

He smirked at her and she looked down trying to suppress the grin spreading across her face. She went back to eating her yogurt, licking her lips after each bite. Ben unlocked the doors and opened the blinds and within the next few minutes the Parks workers returned, laughing and chatting loudly. Leslie popped up to his desk and suddenly the weight of April's thong became heavy in his pocket.

"How was lunch?" he asked, his voice cracking slightly.

"Oh it was great! We'll talk after work, okay, I've got some stuff to get back to." She began to walk out but Ben quickly called her name, his heart was racing, scared he'd let something slip.

I fucked April on your desk. "I was in your office to try to find that uhh... um the report you printed out the other day. I just needed the serial number for the budget report. Sorry, if anything on your desk is messed up."

"Oh," she smiled, "No problem." Ben was sweating profusely and his hand began to fidget with the lacy lingerie in his pocket. She left and a few seconds later he heard her shout to April.

"Did the cleaning crew come in here? It stinks like bleach."

No, Ben did it to get the dried cum off your desk. "Yeah, they said it smelled like old pizza." Leslie had a week old half eaten pizza in her office, Ben was proud of April for noticing.

The afternoon flew by with ease and Ben only became sort of hard whenever he thought about the piece of fabric in his pocket. Him and April made eye contact on their way out of the office and didn't talk even though her eyes screamed "you better fuck me when we get home." Too bad it'd be impossible with Andy home. Ben didn't go straight home, he'd promised Leslie he'd spend time with her that evening and he had to do it to erase any suspicion.

Afterwards she tried to talk him into staying the night but he argued it'd look too strange if he showed up at work the next day with her and in his same clothes. And Andy and April would be curious. They had some dinner, watched some TV, had boring sex and Ben left.

At home he found April alone on the couch, munching on ice cream, staring with blank eyes at the TV screen. He'd suddenly remembered the thong in his pocket. Thank god it was still there and hadn't fallen out at Leslie's. He'd have to explain everything. Ugh, that'd be awful. Ben joined April on the couch.

"Where's Andy?"

"Asleep. Fat ass get's tired really early. Where were you?"

"Out. With friends." His voice became nervous, the way it always did when he lied.

"You're seeing someone aren't you?"

"No."

"That makes since. Lie to the girl who's having an affair with you. Want some ice cream?" He'd wished he'd had the opportunity to put her panties in the ice cream. Maybe he'd tie them in a bow around a beer bottle in the fridge. Andy might see that, though.

April licked her spoon clean and handed it to him. He got his first good look at her as the TV became brighter and illuminated the dark room. Her hair was pulled up into a messy ponytail and she wore her glasses which he liked but rarely saw. Her pajama shorts were riding up and he could see her entire thigh. Her tank top was a size too small and she didn't wear a bra. His eyes lingered on her youthful, perky breasts. Ben loosened his tie, unbuttoned the first few buttons on his shirts and slouched into the couch. Her hand found it's way to his crotch and she began running her fingers across it.

"Not now April." He'd just screwed Leslie. He wasn't really in the mood.

"Fine," she said, pretending like she didn't care. He wanted to, he really did. Maybe he would, maybe he'd just jump on her that instant and fuck her while her husband snored in the other room. He'd ignore the fact that he'd just done it. He could get it up for April. Her mind was much more impatient then his, though. While he contemplated his next move, April grasped his hand in hers and placed it in her lap. She didn't have to say anything, she gave him a look that said Just do it, please, god, do it!

Her slid his hand down her pants, she still wasn't wearing panties, and felt his fingers in her warm flesh. She was already wet and moaned softly at the presence of his fingers. Ben grinned, he liked it like this. One hand fingering April, the other feeding himself ice cream. He felt good, like he didn't have to preform to please her. She arched her back and closed her eyes and when she came she let out a soft, delicate cry that was so beautiful that Ben didn't want it to end. She leaned over, kissed him, thanked him and trotted off to bed. To lie next to Andy.

Ben was left feeling almost shocked. That moment they just had, however brief it seemed to be, felt almost intimate. Their sex before had been quick and rushed and sloppy and rough. This was different though. This was like them hanging out, having fun. Him pleasing her, eating ice cream, watching TV. It felt almost coupley. He'd never done that sort of thing with Leslie. He'd never even thought of it and she'd never hinted that she'd wanted it. This horrible thought entered his head about how easy it'd be for him to leave Leslie and how if April could leave Andy just as easily he almost wouldn't hesitate to grab her, hit the road and leave Pawnee behind forever. It'd never happen but all he could do was dream that it could.


	4. Chapter 4

Ben was satisfied when he woke up the next morning. For a near second he felt that everything he had with April was perfect. Until, of course, he woke up. He wished he could stay in the blissful states of ignorance that occurred in the morning before you really woke up. When your dreams, no matter how unrealistic, felt stupid and unimportant and because of the pain surrounding it, felt more unrealistic than your dreams. Life couldn't be treating Ben this horribly. It gave him someone perfect like Leslie and then threw April at him in a heap of awkward, kinky sex. And now it was making him choose. He refused. He wanted them both. He wanted Leslie's sweet kisses and constant cheeriness. He would never be able to forgive himself for throwing their relationship away. And April would never throw away her seemingly perfect marriage to become a divorcee at the age of twenty-one. That wasn't what April wanted out of Ben anyways.  
>She wasn't into conventional relationships, which is probably why she agreed to marry Andy without any thought. Normal is not marrying someone at the spur of the moment after dating them for a month, at the longest. Apparently marriage was as normal as April was willing to go. Why would she leave that for a real relationship with Ben? Why would she even begin to care what Ben wants?<br>Ben enjoyed his relationship with Leslie. He loved when they were normal. Skipping to the next town to get dinner, sharing small kisses when no one was watching, cuddling on her couch while watching a movie or late night television. But he hated to admit that what he liked the most was the danger of it. The complete lack of normalcy. The sneaking around and the hiding and the secrets. And he knew that's why he loved what he had with April. It was so much sneaking around, hiding and keeping secrets. With him and Leslie there was Ann and Ron who knew and it was fine. Ann encouraged it and Ron shook his head disapprovingly when he caught them talking. But no one was hurt. If anyone, absolutely anyone, caught Ben with April there would be absolutely no positive way for it to end. This sent chills up Ben's spine when he thought about it because no matter how horrifying it was, he absolutely loved it.  
>He thought of a thousand ways to up the danger; things he could do, places they could fuck. Because above all else, the fear of getting caught turned him on the most. He felt like he was in a spy movie where he was both the hero and the villain. Creating danger for himself to embrace and overcome.<br>The image of April's lingerie still burned in his mind. He had to do something with it, something that wouldn't lead Andy to suspect anything. Before he left the house that morning he took the panties from yesterday's pants and stuffed them - neatly so they wouldn't bulge or poke out - in today's pants. He had an idea and seeing how April and Andy hadn't even left their bed by the time Ben left for work, he knew he'd be able to pull it off.  
>Just as the day before, the thong felt heavy as lead in his pocket and he became hard just thinking about it. The name panty sniffer burned in his memory. Some dick in high school used to call him that. And for no apparent reason, too. He hadn't sniffed April's panties but he had carried them around with him for almost an entire day. Then again, he was fucking her. He had an excuse.<br>Ben arrived at work early. He had a habit of being painfully early to everything. Of course, so did Leslie. She had arrived about five minutes before him making them the only two in the office. They took advantage of their alone time and made out behind the door in her office until Ben noticed Chris jog by outside Leslie's window. He hung around her office for a while talking "budget stuff" (dinner plans) but when others began to arrive and the work day began, he knew he had to act fast or his plan would never go through.  
>"I've got to get goin', we'll discuss this more at lunch." He smiled widely at her - his way of kissing her when they couldn't - and she smiled back.<br>"Ann!" she hollered when her best friend entered the office. Ben left and Leslie let Ann in, shutting the door quickly on Ben. Perfect. Ben lingered near April's desk for a moment and scanned the room over once to make sure no one was looking. He turned to leave the area and as he did, swept his arm across her desk knocking over a cup of pens.  
>"Nice one, Ben!" cackled Tom from the other side of the room. Ben tried to look embarrassed, though he'd done it on purpose.<br>He got on his knees and meticulously collected her scattered pens, which were actually an impressive collection of colored sharpies. He shoved them all into his right fist, placing them back into the cup while his other hand discreetly plopped the blue thong smack in the center of her desk. He looked around, no one had seen. He walked casually back to his office, hands in his pockets. There was room now.  
>It wasn't more than twenty minutes later when April arrived, this time unaccompanied. Ben smirked at her as she passed by and she stuck her tongue out at him. Her hair was in pigtail braids, she looked like a child. He looked back down to his desk and couldn't suppress the grin. He couldn't wait to see her reaction. But it must've been five minutes later and Ben hadn't seen any sign of alarm. No death glares, hate-filled emails, projectile objects tossed at his head, bullets through the heart. Nothing.<br>He tried to get a good view of her desk but saw no sign of the thong. Had she quietly stashed it? Boring. Where was the fun in that?  
>Moments later Jerry stood up and started to leave, then paused as if he'd remembered something and turned to April.<br>"Oh, April. You left this on your desk!" And he produced, to the view of the entire room, April's lace blue thong. For a minute, everyone was silent and April's face turned beet red - whether it was embarrassment or anger he couldn't tell.  
>"Jerry!" she all but screamed. "Ew! How did you get my thong! Give it back!"<br>"It-it was on your desk - I thought you wouldn't want people to see it!"  
>His comment was barely heard through Donna and Tom's laughter and Leslie's appearance near April to comfort her and chastise Jerry.<br>"Jerry, that's fucked," Donna interjected.  
>"Panty sniffer!" squealed Tom, in hysterics. Ben lost himself at that one. This was going better than he could've imagine.<br>Ben glanced over at Ron. He was trying to stay as uninvolved as possible and Ben considered that his best call. Lie low.  
>April stuffed the panties into her purse and Leslie tried to ask what had happened exactly. "None of your business," she said, nostrils flared, trying as desperately as she could to keep her eyes away from Ben.<br>Leslie patted April on the back and her that maternal look she often gave her. Ben had forgotten how much April respected Leslie and how Leslie had told him that she felt this protective bond with April since she'd sort of raised her into the world of employment, seen her grow into a woman. Ben hadn't thought anything of it at the time, that was before he'd even give April a passing glance. Now it creeped him out. Like he was fucking his girlfriend's daughter. That's what perverts did. And then another fear swept through Ben. If Leslie and April were so close, what was stopping April from telling her about her affair with Ben? April didn't know about him and Leslie. She could easily let it slip to someone she loved and trusted that she was cheating on her husband. Ben made a note that he had to tell April about him and Leslie. No, scratch that. He had to make sure she wasn't going to tell any one. Keeping things simple made sense. He didn't want to ruin his fling with April by telling her he was also sleeping with Leslie.  
>Though Ben did feel like he was dangerously close to never speaking to April again. Lunchtime came and she spent it with Andy, not even giving Ben the luxury of a passing glance. Even when he tried to make eye contact she would not only ignore him but completely avoid him. Ben, of course, understood why she was acting this way and in fact was nearly certain he'd act the same way were he in her position. Though, he was different from her. By this time, he thrived for April. He felt a longing to be with her. A lust for her that burned in his mind and refused to leave. April, however, did not reciprocate those thoughts. She did lust for Ben in a way even she didn't understand. But she did not need Ben - not like she needed Andy at least. For her, no one could take the place of Andy - Ben was only there to fill the gap when she was feeling less than satisfied. A part of Ben knew this, though the rest of Ben refused to believe it. He refused to think that April didn't feel the same way he did which is why he was certain that April being angry with him would not last long.<br>Unfortunately for him, it lasted much longer than he'd predicted.  
>The end of the day came at a painfully slow rate. He purposefully declined plans with Leslie; make-up sex with April sounded much more appealing. Ben lingered around the office, waiting for April. When she got up to leave he "accidentally" bumped into her.<br>"April!" he greeted her. He'd become giddy with the anticipation of waiting for her.  
>"Get away from me." Monotone, as usual.<br>"Aw, come on!" Ben teased and nudged her slightly.  
>April stopped walking and looked around to make sure no one was listening in. She shove Ben against the wall and pushed her body against hi, staring threateningly into his eyes. SHe was very unhappy.<br>"I swear to god Ben, if you ever pull something like that again I will cut your testicles off."  
>Ben tried not to laugh. "Castration? That's a new one."<br>"Fine," she paused to think of another threat. "I'll stop letting you fuck me!"  
>"Oh is that what this is? You're doing me this huge favor by 'letting' me fuck you? I'm pretty sure this isn't a one way thing, April." He wasn't sure why he was getting angry, but he liked it. They were fighting and it was turning him on.<br>"Ben, I don't need you around. You're obviously sexually frustrated and I'm the only girl around for you to screw. I'm sure if Leslie lived in the same house as her, you'd fuck her."  
>Ben's heart skipped a beat and he covered his nervousness with a light chuckle.<br>"Except I'd never sleep with Leslie and you're fucking sexy." It was a horrible response but it was the only thing that he could push out of his mouth before his hands began shaking nervously.  
>April smiled and looked down, noticing for the first time how close they'd been and that she could feel his erection.<br>"Where's Andy?" Ben noticed this was becoming a sort of pre-sex ritual. If he didn't ask where Andy was, he at least took a minute to think about it.  
>"In the car waiting."<br>"We better be fast."  
>Ben grabbed April's wrist before giving her a second thought. He pulled her around the corner searching for an at least semi-private location. At the end of the hall he spotted and elevator. Would that work? Send it to the top floor? No one was really up there, most people had gone home. They could be quick, they'd really done nothing but quick. Ben dashed for the elevator, still clutching April's wrist and ignoring her requests to stop squeezing so hard.<br>When he arrived at the elevator doors he pushed the button a few times and then pulled April in by her shoulders, kissing her roughly and not romantically at all, not that they'd ever been romantic together. She hesitated to kiss back and he feared momentarily that she wasn't willing to go through with it that evening. He hadn't really given her much of an option. Though, she gave in and opened her mouth to better access his. Ben was relieves and felt himself harden even more below his belt.  
>The elevator arrived and when they went in April listlessly asked where they were going and Ben didn't bother to answer. Before even allowing the doors to close, Ben began to undo is belt and pants. April had caught on and pulled down her panties and slide up her skirt. Ben grabbed her waist, pulling her against him and lifting her up. She reached behind her and pushed the button for the top floor and began bobbing her body up and down.<br>"Fucking..." Ben groaned. "Go faster!"  
>April went as fast as she could, pushing down on Ben's shoulders and suppressing her cries to low soft moans.<br>They reached the top floor much sooner than they'd anticipated. Ben wasn't nearly done yet. April reached back to hit the "close door" button and Ben, very impatient, spun her around against the wall and began thrusting himself into her as fast as he could. Much better.  
>Things went great for about a minute. April cried out louder each time but Ben didn't mind because he knew it meant he was doing a good job. But then something happened that somehow neither of them had really predicted. The elevator had been called and was moving steadily down to the second floor.<br>"Fuck!" Ben shouted. He turned around and hit the button for the top floor repetitively, as if there was some chance of it returning.  
>"Let me down!" April shouted, still pinned against the wall, kicking at the air. He dropped her reluctantly. The sign above the door flashed "2." April flattened her skirt and positioned herself artfully in front of Ben to hide his stiff cock from the view of the whoever may be entering the elevator. The doors swung open and the man who stepped in Ben didn't recognize but April knew him as Kyle, the man who frequently had his shoes shined by Andy.<br>They both smiled as innocently as they could manage though they probably looked undoubtedly guilty. Ben winced slightly, he desperately needed to be finished off. He prayed silently that April wouldn't accidentally step to the side. He lowered his hand and began to stroke his throbbing manhood. He looked down and noticed April's panties wrapped around one of her ankles. He prayed again that the older man in the elevator wouldn't look down. After what felt like hours they reached the bottom floor. The man paused to allow them off first.  
>"We're going to the basement," April told the man.<br>"But there is no basement."  
>"Yes there is Kyle, duh!" April glared at him and Ben smiled trying his best not to give away what he was doing behind April. The man left and April hit the top floor button again. Ben let out a low moan and April eyed him suspiciously.<br>"Ew Ben, stop jacking off in the elevator." She grinned her demonic half smile. Ben looked as if he'd burst at any moment. April lowered to her knees knowing that it probably wouldn't take until they got to the top floor and began sucking him off. He warned her he was about to come but she didn't stop. He took April's hair in his fists and tilted his head back, moaning and came in her mouth. It took him a moment to believe that she'd actually done that, what so few girls he'd been with had done. What Leslie would never do.  
>She stood up and he leaned in to kiss her face and began to whisper in her ear.<br>"Don't thank me," she said. "I'm not a whore." Ben didn't know how to respond so he kissed her again.  
>"And don't worry," she continued. "You'll pay me back later." Ben liked that April saw this as a reoccurring engagement like he had.<br>"Don't forget your erm..." he said awkwardly as they neared the first floor. She bent down , pulled her panties off her ankle and stuffed them in her purse.  
>"I think I'll keep these this time."<p> 


	5. Chapter 5

Ben reached his car shortly after April reached Andy's. He tried not to watch them kiss lovingly but he couldn't help it. A part of him wanted to be able to kiss April that way but the circumstances that surrounded that privileged didn't seem preferable - or feasible - to him. He checked his phone and read the dozens of messages from Leslie reading "hey," "what's up?" "where are you?" "still on for dinner?" et cetera.  
>He considered ignoring her but knew it'd do no good. Ben sent a text confirming dinner and an apology that he wouldn't be able to stay any later because he was behind on sleep (only a partial lie.) Spending normal amounts of time with his girlfriend so as she doesn't suspect anything? Seemed reasonable.<br>Dinner with Leslie was normal and he barely broke a sweat when she brought up what had happened earlier with April's panties.  
>"How do you think Jerry got them?"<br>Ben probably took too long to decide how he'd answer.  
>"Probably broke into her room in the middle of the night," he joked.<br>"You and Andy really need to watch after her better!" Leslie joked along.  
>Andy's useless, Ben felt like saying but decided against it. According to Leslie, Ben had no reason to dislike Andy. And in reality, if Ben did hold any distaste for Andy it was because he got in the way of fucking April. Ben put on his best fake smile and pretended he wanted to be there with Leslie.<br>And on his drive home he felt like the world's worst boyfriend - because he was. He didn't have a good reason to leave Leslie that evening. They could've had sex - he had nothing else planned. Andy was home that night, he wouldn't even be able to talk to April.  
>When he walked through the front door and saw what was standing before him, he nearly passed out. Filling up the contents of the entire living room was various band equipment and scraggly men who looked like they had no direction in life. So this was Mouse Rat? He'd heard so much but had never had the pleasure of seeing them in person. April was sitting on the couch in the living room, preparing to watch he husband's band rehearse. Andy was bent down near an amp, plugging some cords in.<br>"Um Andy," Ben said. The room diverted their attention to him and Ben became nervous as a dozen beady eyes waited for him to continue speaking. "What's exactly going on?"  
>"Mouse Rat rehearsal!" Andy sprung from his seated position and picked up his guitar. "Care to watch, Benjamin?"<br>"No, no. I'm fine. What happened to Big Jim's house? Don't you rehearse there?"  
>"If you're referring to Lil Johnny," Andy gestured to a thin man on to his right, holding a bass. "then yes, we do usually rehearse there but... his house burned down so..."<br>"Oh my god that's awful," Ben said, looking at the man who's face failed to show any emotion. "Um... so this is going to be a regular thing?" Ben desperately hoped the answer would be no.  
>"Yeah probably. Enjoy it, man! One day we'll be famous and you'll get to tell people that Mouse Rat rehearsed in the house that you lived in."<br>"Or I could tell them that I lived in the same house as the lead singer," Ben said, knowing that this simple form of intellect was way beyond them.  
>"Good point!" Andy said, and turned his back to Ben to continue the set up of the make shift stage which was now filling up the entire living room.<br>Ben grabbed a beer from the fridge and walked to his room. Another night lonely and drunk? Sounded good.  
>Mouse Rat started up and his head felt like it'd explode. He needed to get out of there. Drive around the town in circles. Go to Leslie's. Anything. Absolutely anything to get out of the house.<br>He left his room in a hurry, as if sneak past the group without being seen. Like that mattered for some reason. He froze when he noticed eyes on him and shot his gaze directly to April. She grinned at him and took a sip from her beer. She was eye-fucking him. In front of Andy.  
>And suddenly he didn't really want to leave anymore. He looked around nervously and the only thing he could think to do was go to the fridge and grab another beer even though he hadn't finished his first one. So he did. He took it, spared a quick look at April (who's eyes were still watching him) and returned to his room.<br>Again he found himself with the dilemma of not knowing what to do but was comforted by the thought of how horny April probably was for him. He chugged his first beer and opened the second. He found himself wandering through the connecting bathroom and then into April and Andy's room, a place he never went. It was a mess. Clothes and discarded pizza boxes littered the floor. The bed wasn't made, all the surfaces were crowded with papers and various dollar bills and coins. He spotted April's blue thong on the floor and laughed to himself wondering if she'd ever wear it again.  
>The song Mouse Rat had been playing ended and Ben froze hoping no one would enter the bedroom. He was looking for his t-shirt, it got mixed up in the wash. A new song soon started and Ben began making his way over to the crowded armoir. He looked at his reflection in a dusty mirror and spotted April's glasses on top of a stack of papers. He picked them up and smiled, he loved her in those glasses and he wished she wore them more often. As he moved the glasses aside a few papers shifted and he noticed beneath them was a notebook. He couldn't resist. The outside cover read in April's messy scroll "go the fuck away" in an ominous black sharpie. This was going to be good.<br>It was her diary and the first entry was from a little less than year ago. Boring stuff. He flicked through the pages scanning only the dates. She had meticulously written at least a page a day for months. And sometimes the entries were in Spanish which Ben guessed was from her time spent in Venezuela. And then the day came when she married Andy. Ben stopped on the page and read it. The entry went on for pages and pages.

_So, I guess I'm going to marry Andy. It was his idea but I agreed. Kinda. I don't know why I did. It just seems like a good idea, you know? And it's not like I'm gonna ever find someone better. Andy loves me and no one else ever really has or probably ever will so like I guess that means I have to marry him. I'm sort of freaking out. Like I don't know if it's the right thing to do. Or if I'll regret it and have to divorce him. I don't want to be stuck with him and like a thousand half-Andy babies running around. He's a loser but I sort of am too kind of sometimes so I guess it's okay. Asking for someone who isn't a loser would be like asking for too much so I'll just stick with loser Andy for now. Or forever._

Ben stopped reading and scanned the rest. He'd known that almost no thought had gone into their wedding but he hadn't realized that April had actually had doubts. She had seemed so full throttle on it but there were pages after pages of her diary filled with "should I or shouldn't I" rambling. He felt sympathy for her, realizing how hard it must be to be that young and devoted to one man for the rest of your life. If he'd married at twenty-one he'd be absolutely miserable. Even more miserable than he currently was. Unfathomably miserable.  
>He flicked to the next entry and read the date.<br>"Fuck," he muttered allowed and almost shut the book. The date was from just last Saturday, the day after they'd first fucked. April wrote religiously in her diary for nearly a year, stopped after she was married and started again after she had sex with Ben. He couldn't help but read it, he had to. It was about him. Finally an insight into the mysterious brain of April Ludgate.

_I did something really bad last night. Like the worst. I don't know if I should even talk about it. Andy and I got in a fight which I guess is like normal or something for married couples but I didn't think about it at the time so I went to the Snakehole and Ben was there like alone and being a loser like he always is. But then he kissed me because he was really drunk and so was I but not as drunk as him I just pretended to be so it wouldn't be weird. And then we like did it, like we have sex. Ew. I can't even believe I did that. But like I wanted to and I guess I started it kind of and I hate to say it but I actually liked it. Like, I know that's gross and I'm married to Andy. But I haven't slept with like a thousand guys or anything but Andy just isn't very good in bed and I know I fucked Ben on the toilet but like he's so much better than Andy. Ew. I can't believe I'm writing this down. Ok. I was drunk and I'm never talking about it again and I'm never talking to Ben again._

Ben laughed. Obviously something had gone wrong there. He flicked to the next entry which was dated as Sunday, just two days ago.

_So I had sex with Ben again. But this time it was his fault. Like he basically attacked me in the shower but it was good so I'm not complaining. Except I have bruises and hopefully Andy won't notice. I guess I can tell him I fell down or something. He's stupid so he'll believe it. But seriously serious seriously I'm not talking to him ever now. Like this entire day. I swear to God I'm not going to talk to him today or tomorrow or have sex with him ever ever again because that's gross and he's not like hot or anything. Except I guess he is a little hot. Hotter than Andy. But it doesn't matter because I'm married to Andy because he loves me and not to Ben cause he's just some weird rapist nympho or something. I don't know. He probably never gets laid. Actually, I thought he was gay before he kissed me. Maybe he's just exploring his sexuality._

Ben laughed aloud again. Gay? Really? She'd called him gay but he didn't know she actually seriously thought that he was gay. He wasn't sure if he wanted to read any more. It was more insulting him than anything with a few sparse comments of confidence boosting sex compliments. She thought he was good in bed... or good in wherever they happened to have sex.  
>The next few entries went on the same as the others - revolving around Ben, their sex and her scattered and confused feelings for him. She didn't like him, not really, but she didn't not like him and she sure liked what he had to offer. It was sort of the same way he felt about her, so he was glad they were on the same page.<br>He tucked the diary back to where he'd found it so as not to raise any suspicion. It was a good advantage to know of the diary's existence - he'd be able to keep track of April's feelings for him since she was so poor at revealing them through any other method.  
>Satisfied but not entirely, he returned to his room to finish his beer and desperately wish that he didn't have to walk past people in order to get another one. The sound of Mouse Rat thumped in his ears and made his stomach sick but April's written words about him had an even greater presence over his consciousness.<br>_She wrote about me. She continued her ritualistic writing to talk about me. That's got to mean something!_  
>And if he had a list of all the things he wanted more than anything else, he'd move this one to that top: that April would actually tell him that she liked him and wanted to spend time with him and have endless amounts of sex that meant nothing and everything at the same time.<br>Ben plopped onto his bed and opened up a book that he'd read a thousand times but hadn't opened in years. He was just starting to get into it - the characters and plot were coming back to him and he remembered that he hated it the first time he read it - when his door opened partially and April's thin frame slipped into his room. He pretended not to care and looked up after he finished the page he was on.  
>"Oh, hello!" he said, cheerier than he'd wanted to be.<br>She sighed loudly and sat on his bed near his feet. "Mouse Rat's boring," she said as she fell back, lying across his bed horizontally, her black hair sprawled out like a halo around her rounded face. Ben sat up and sat cross legged, smiling at how beautiful she looked from his angle. Why he was feeling this sudden compassion for her, he couldn't tell. "Stop smiling, it's creepy," she said and Ben smiled even wider.  
>"I'm serious!" she said louder, but accidentally slipped out a grin herself. "You're so creepy, Ben!"<br>"Am not," he teased and lay down beside her.  
>There was an elongated silence that arose between them - something that'd never happened before. It wasn't entirely awkward - aside from Ben's internal monologue trying to decide if he should hold her hand or start making out with her. Her body language told him to do neither. She fiddled with her thumbs and crossed and uncrossed and recrossed her legs.<br>"So, uhhhhh..." Ben had thought he'd had something to say but apparently didn't.  
>"Can you stop being so lame?" April said and rolled to her side and cuddled up against Ben. He placed his arm around her and sighed. He liked this. A bit too much.<br>April didn't speak for a while, and it was very odd for Ben. She didn't move or anything. She just closed her eyes and he thought for a minute that she'd fallen asleep. He tried to think of some excuse to tell Andy if he walked in and April was asleep in his arms. He couldn't come up with anything and decided for ten seconds just to forget about Andy while he was with April.  
>"Come out with me," she demanded, breaking the silence and ending the brief tender moment. She sat up but Ben stayed still, wishing she hadn't. "Come on. You can't sit alone in your room all night. Come watch Mouse Rat with me."<br>"April," he began sitting up and straightening his wrinkled shirt. "I hate Mouse Rat."  
>"So do I." Ben was shocked. "But Andy's my husband and I don't hate him so... come out with me."<br>Ben shook his head and laughed. "I'll get you for this."  
>"Nope," she said teasingly as she stood up and danced towards the door. "This is me getting you back for what you did earlier." She held out her hand and stared at Ben, waiting for him for join her. He stood slowly and dragged his feet over to April. He took his hand in hers but she quickly let go, placed her hands on either side of his face and pulled him in for a hard kiss. Ben tried to enjoy it; he pulled her in and tried to make it romantic. She dug her nails into his scalp.<br>"Ow," he attempted to call out with her mouth still latched onto his. "Ow, ow. April. Ow."  
>She pulled back and grimaced at him. "Loser." And left his room.<br>Ben didn't really want to follow her but he knew that she wanted him to follow her. So he did.  
>He followed shortly behind and by the time they reached the living room the song had stopped.<br>"Ben! You've come to watch!" Andy had the same spirit as a toddler.  
>"Uhh y-yes. Upon you're erm, uh April's request." April rolled her eyes and Andy either seemed not to notice or not to care.<br>"Awesome sauce!" The pair slumped down into the couch which had been rotated to face the new center piece of the room, Andy.  
>The next song was one that Ben actually recognized (and wanted to hit himself in the head for knowing) and April knew all the words to. Sex hair. The words were unintelligible to Ben, he only understood "sex hair" and kept unconsciously smoothing his hair, fearing it'd been too messed up from the elevator earlier. April looked at him smiling, nearly laughing, and his ridiculous self-conscious hair flattening. She lifted her arm slowly and hesitantly and ran her fingers through Ben's hair. His eyes widened and heart pounded and his gaze shot immediately to Andy. He wasn't paying attention. April fluffed his hair up to something that probably resembled his hair after sex. It didn't really matter if Andy saw them, it was very April to mess with Ben, fuck-buddies or not.<br>The song ended and April and Ben erupted in uproarious applause and laughter which verged on complete and utter mockery. Andy grinned, oblivious, though Ben could've sworn he saw Andy's eyes shift slightly towards him, like he knew something was up. But he couldn't be positive.


	6. Chapter 6

"Hey April," Ben whispered to her in the kitchen. She was putting away the carton of ice cream and he was pretending to get a glass of water.  
>"Hm?" She glanced behind her noticing Andy was completely consumed by the television. She tilted her head and smiled at him.<br>"So I was thinking," he began and she put her finger to her lip. He immediately lowered his voice. "Maybe we should go-" he glanced at Andy to be safe and lowered his voice even further "g-go out some time. Or something. I don't know."  
>April laughed under her breath. "We'll talk later." She strutted towards the living room and curled up next to Andy on the couch, giving him a big, wet kiss on the cheek. He barely budged.<br>Fuck it. If I were him I'd fuck her every chance I had. He doesn't fucking know what he has.  
>Ben ran his fingers over his face. This was awful. Why was he thinking like this? Suddenly so possessive towards April, he really cared for her and didn't really have any reason to. He wanted to go on a date with her? He couldn't even go on a date with Leslie. They'd have to skip at least three towns so as not to run into anyone who may recognize them.<br>Ben returned to his room and made eye contact with April on his way out. Her prolonged gaze told him she'd join him shortly. He found himself removing his pants and tie and soon stood before himself in the mirror in nothing but his red plaid boxers and green plaid shirt. He couldn't figure out why. He knew they weren't going to fuck. Maybe they would though... if he took off his clothes.  
>He was sitting on his bed, beginning to unbutton his favorite shirt, when April came in through the bathroom door.<br>"Well, don't you look more pathetic than usual this evening."  
>Ben was on her in what seemed like less than a second. He pinned her against the door and kissed her repetitively, running his hands all over her already tangled black hair. April made noises that at first sounded like moaning but Ben later recognized as attempts to speak. She was already pounding her fists against his shoulders before he realized she wanted him to stop.<br>"Jesus fuck, Ben! I thought you wanted to talk, not fuck me up against the wall."  
>"Sorry."<br>"Sit down," she demanded and he obeyed, highly aroused. "You know we can't go on a fucking date, right Ben? That's probably like the worst idea that you've ever had next to that Snow World thing."  
>"Ice Town," he solemnly corrected. "We could, I don't know, do something. Somewhere else. if we're gonna have this a-affair type thing-"<br>"Don't call it that."  
>"Well, that's what it is, April. But if we're going to have whatever-it-is-we're-having we can't keep fucking at work and here when Andy's around."<br>"Fine." She sounded almost disappointed. Ben was disappointed, too. He liked how absolutely terrified he was whenever they had sex. "We wouldn't have this problem if you had your own house like a normal person."  
>"Like I'm not trying to find one, April? You think I plan to live here with you two forever? Because I'll tell you one thing - if I weren't fucking you I'd absolutely hate it here. And because I'm fucking you, I only partially hate it here."<br>"Why don't you leave then? Live with your girlfriend or whatever."  
>"W-wh-what? A-apr-" He froze when he saw the look on her face, not accusatory but almost jealous. "I don't have a girlfriend." He said softly, trying to be compassionate.<br>"Uh-huh. Where are you all the time then? It's not like you have friends or anything."  
>"Fuck you," he muttered under his breath and she glared at him, not nearly defeated. "Why would I lie to you about having a girlfriend? Why would I have a uh a secret girlfriend?" Leslie's name burned in his mind. She wouldn't harass him like this, but then again that was part of the problem.<br>"I don't know. Because you're really fucked up, probably."  
>"Yeah?" he turned around and paced his room for a second. "Maybe I am!" He wiped his nose which was beginning to run and felt tears forming in his eyes that had thankfully decided not to fall.<br>"Who is she?"  
>"I still d-don't know what you're talking about." Her expression remained blank. "There isn't any one. And why are you so goddamned jealous anyways? You have a fucking husband, April! You're fucking married!"<br>"Lower your voice, dip shit, Andy'll hear you."  
>"Like I give a flying fuck!" He was really worked up now.<br>April sighed and turned to leave. She was fed up with him and how he acted more like a woman than a man half the time.  
>"N-n-n-n-no!" he said and hurried after her, shutting the bathroom door before she could reach it. "W-wait!"<br>"Promise you'll stop screaming at me, lame ass?"  
>"Yeah sure I'm sorry. I just..."<br>She sighed and tapped her foot. It'd felt like she liked him so much just a few short minutes ago. What had happened?  
>"When can we meet again?" he said desperately and rather too close to her. She felt his hot breath against her face and wasn't sure if she liked it or not.<br>Her heart rate increased as she remembered the times they'd shared together, fucking senselessly without any other cares. She liked that. They should go back to that.  
>"I don't know..." Sometimes the whole not caring thing worked for her. Though she did desperately care. "Tomorrow we have work. And fucking at work is gross and we need to stop doing it."<br>"Agreed," Ben said, though he didn't agree 100%. The elevator was fun for him. Leslie's desk, not so much. That one still haunted him.  
>"I've got an idea," she said after a moment of contemplation. "You're taking me out to lunch tomorrow to discuss my future. Stop stuttering and no one will care."<br>"I-I-I-" He wasn't keen on going into this so blindly. April knew some weird people and had probably done some weird stuff before she was with Andy. Who knew where she would take him. He couldn't help but fear slightly for his safety.  
>April shushed him and shot him a harsh look. She leaned in for a kiss and Ben braced himself for their last kiss of the evening. But she didn't kiss him. She placed her lips on his bottom lip and when his mouth moved to latch onto hers and his hands ran down the small of her back, she bit down on his lip and he wailed.<br>"Fuck!" He recoiled and felt his numb lip wiping the blood away that was dripping onto his shirt. "What the fuck did you do that for?"  
>"You should really stop swearing, fuck head." Ben stared at her upper lip as she spoke. A drop of his own blood sat puddled there for only a second until she noticed his eyes and swiftly licked the blood away. Grinning demonically at him as if it were nothing.<br>He rummaged through his desk to find something to stop the bleeding and when he couldn't find anything and turned to the bathroom door for a tissue he noticed April had left just as silently as she had come. Blood dripped onto the carpet and he considered not bothering to clean his lip until he realized he was tired and didn't want to sleep in a puddle of his own blood. Ben stripped off his now ruined favorite shirt and pressured his lip with a wad of cotton balls. He lay awake with his lip throbbing, head aching and cock half hard. She wasn't lying when she'd called him fucked-up.  
>Ben felt sick to his stomach that night. He woke up in the dead of night and couldn't shake the image of April and Andy together in bed out of his head. It was awful. Every night he'd lived there, Andy and April had shared a bed (whether they were intimate or not he never cared to know) but suddenly the thought of them even touching made him want to vomit. Tears swelled in his eyes as the pain in his lip failed to subside. It was three in the morning and he had to wake up at six. Where did he keep his painkillers? He rarely used them but he had to have them somewhere. His brain wasn't working this early and he couldn't figure it out. Crying himself back to sleep? Fuck. Did he need stitches? He barely was able to examine the wound through all the blood that kept appearing. How had she bit so hard? He thought twice about letting her blow him again and fell back asleep.<br>The morning felt like razor blades in his eyes which reminded him to shave but he instead decided against it. Leslie had complimented his scruff once so it wouldn't be so bad.  
>His bottom lip was swollen and dried blood caked the surrounding area. Fucking April. He'd get her for his.<br>He saw he standing near the sink drinking a glass of orange juice. Andy was still in bed snoring. He approached her at first cautiously. She lit up when she noticed his lip.  
>"You look like shit." She said into her glass.<br>"You look like someone who needs to be fucked." He wished he hadn't said that but grew hard thinking about it. She was wearing her glasses.  
>She placed her glass down, cocked her head and grinned at him. He came at her a lot faster than he'd intended. He presses her against the counter and kisses her roughly, his lip burning as she licked at the dried blood. He ran his hand down her chest and into her pajama shorts, feeling its way around the familiar territory not touched since yesterday afternoon. She moaned softly into his ear and wrapped a leg around his back. He grasped her ass in his hands and prepared to lift her up. A quick fuck in the kitchen? Andy wouldn't notice.<br>But as one of April's trembling hands struggled to pull Ben's boxers down and the other placed a hold on his stiff cock, a noise is heard from the other end of the house. Andy let out a stifling growl and a loud thump is heard as if he'd dropped something. The shower is turned on and both of them freeze, the grip on the other becoming frightfully less tight.  
>"We should stop." Ben was shocked the words left his mouth.<br>"No!" April groaned and continued stroking him. "He takes forever in the shower. Just fuck me, goddammit Ben! Fuck me!"  
>How could he resist?<br>He pulled her shorts down and hoisted her up onto the counter and massaged her damp flesh as she worked at successfully removing his cock from his pants. He had to stand on his toes to reach her but when he finally got inside her, he knew he wouldn't last long. The tension had been building since last night and he couldn't believe he'd managed to stay stiff the majority of last night without working it out himself.  
>April came quicker than she had in the past, too. She cried out louder than he'd heard her before as her feet formed a tight grip on his back. She thrusted her hips into his completely out of sync but it worked well enough for Ben to come shortly afterwards with a low moan. He stood shaking for a few moments but April recovered much quicker. She kissed the gash on his lip and it stung.<br>"Sorry about that," she said completely insincere. "See you at lunchtime."  
>Ben smiled a big stupid smile that he tried more often than not to conceal from the eyes of others. He looked goofy he was sure, but he was happy. Maybe trying to talk with April wasn't the best idea he'd had. When they fucked things were simple, when he tried to label it and turn it into some twisted relationship - that was when things went wrong.<p> 


	7. Chapter 7

The day began and Ben was finding it slightly easier to lie to Leslie.

He'd already managed to tell Leslie that the gash on his lip was self-inflicted in his sleep. He didn't break a sweat and she bought it.

And later on in the day he found it even easier to lie about his plans with April for that afternoon. He had no idea where April was taking him, so as far as he knew maybe it was just lunch. Doubtful, but Leslie and Chris didn't have to know that.

He only stuttered once. A new record for him.

"Hey Leslie." Casual, composed, businesslike. Chris was in the next room. "I uh- I would like to take A-April to lunch today."

"Mmkay." She smiled at him with flirty eyes. He hadn't paid as much attention to her these past few days.

"Future plans and stuff like that. Just hope I won't be taking her away from you for long."

Leslie chuckled. "No, no. April never does anything anyways. Take her as long as you need!"

Ben clenched his fists. He didn't like Leslie insulting April. He turned to leave before he gave any feelings away.

"Good luck!" Leslie called after him. Ben froze and turned back. "Good luck with April, I don't think she likes you too much does she?"

"We live together," was all he was able to force from his lips as he scurried out the door a bit too fast.

Leslie called after him. "Ben! Clear it with Ron first, she's his assistant."

Aw fuck. Ben sighed and turned towards Ron's office.

"What happened to your face, son?" Ron asked as Ben stepped in.

"I uh-uh-uh bit it... in my sleep." Lying to Ron was harder because he could see right through him.

"Sure. What is it?"

"Is it alright if I borrow April this afternoon?"

"Why?"

"I'd like to take her for lunch to talk about uh- future plans and you know... government stuff."

"Right..." Ron was suspicious. Fucking, Ron. He'd found out Ben and Leslie were seeing each and now there was a huge chance of him figuring out about Ben and April. "Ben let me tell you a little secret: You're the worst liar I know and if I were you I'd keep my mouth shut."

Ben stood with his eyes wide before Ron. "Uhh... N-n-n-n-no. It's nothing - it's -"

"I don't want to hear about it," Ron said and turned away from Ben. He would hear about it, Ben could tell. He'd be the first to figure it out - again. _Fuck, fuck, fuck!_

"April," Ben approached her desk with caution. "Looks like we're uh cleared for lunch." He tried to be quirky but it wasn't working for him.

"Don't care." April said without looking up from her computer.

"What?" he leaned in and lowered his voice. She shot him a glare that said you fucking idiot.

"Don't. Care." And she smiled a little and he figured it out.

Lunchtime came and Leslie and Ann settled down in the courtyard to gossip and giggle and talk about what ever they talked about. Probably him, which was as equally comforting as it was humiliating. April walked with Ben to his car in silence.

"Can I drive?" she asked.

"What? No. Do you even have a license?"

"I had a learner's permit once."

"I don't see that happening, sorry April."

"Ugh!" she groaned loudly like a disgruntled teenager and dragged her feet to the passenger's side. "I get to control the radio then."

Ben sighed and unlocked the doors, scooting into the seat and turning on the car.

"Your car smells weird." She said bluntly and Ben, again, ignored her. He'd known that she always acted like this but it was particularly annoying to him today. Maybe because he wasn't half drink or even turned on at the moment.

"So, where are we going?"

"That's why I wanted to drive."

"Are you serious? You're still not going to tell me?"

"No." Ben hoped that the sex they were about to have would be really good to make up for how she was acting.

He climbed out of the car and she climbed over the middle and into the driver's seat. This was the first time in years that Ben was legitimately scared for his life. It wasn't that April was a horrible driver, she just wasn't very good. She stopped too quickly at red lights and swerved a bit when she was preoccupied with changing the radio. She flicked off every car that stopped next to her at the red light and took off too quickly to get away from them. It was fun and they spent time laughing and singing along to whatever ridiculous song came on the radio. They screamed the chorus to_ Ice, Ice Baby _and mumbled through the verses and then a disco song from the 70s came on that neither of them knew the words to but Ben tried to dance along with until April changed the station. And then some indie song came on that neither of them had heard before but it was soft and sweet and the refrain _welcome home _made them only slightly uncomfortable about the intimacy arising before they even reached their destination.

They drove for nearly twenty minutes, well out of Pawnee's city limits, before they reached their destination: a vacant parking lot of an abandoned dilapidated building.

"Okay." April said, after she parked the car. "We have two options. We can do it here in the car but someone might drive up and see us or we can do it in there but there might already be people fucking in there."

"Is this some weird hipster sex meet-up?"

"I don't know. It's an abandoned movie theatre."

Ben made a face and weighed his options. Gross fuck-building or car? "What are the chances someone'll drive up?"

She shrugged. "Dunno, it's day time and people don't always come in the day time."

"Get in the back seat." Ben demanded and April didn't take a moment's hesitation to squeeze her nimble body through the front seats to plop into the back. He stepped out of the car, in fear his ass might get stuck between the seats or something, and jumped eagerly into the back. April's jeans were already unbuttoned and she was working at getting them off her hips.

"Mmm," Ben laughed and pinned her down on the seat, kissing her softly and massaging her breasts. She stuck her gum in his mouth with her tongue and he tried not to gag and instead laughed along with her as he slid a sly hand down her side in an attempt to one-handedly remove her pants. She undid a few buttons of his shirt before she got bored and decided to undo his pants. They both struggled for much too long with the others' clothes before April said, "This isn't working."

A look of concern swept across Ben's face. "W-what?"

April laughed at him. "We can't get our clothes off, idiot."

"Right, right. Okay." He was still on top of her struggling with her tight pants.

"Just give me five seconds to get my pants off, okay? It's not that hard." She lightly pushed him off of her and swung her legs around to effortlessly slide her jeans away.

"I could say the same to you..." he mumbled and watched her undress before taking off his own clothes. She shot him a look that said _Are you gonna stare at me or take your clothes off, loser? _so he slid his pants and boxers down and ended up having to kick his shoes off since his pants were too tight to go over them with ease. His shirt was only half unbuttoned when he looked up and saw her sitting naked before him with the exception of her pink socks. She crawled across the seat and straddled him, removing his shirt quicker than his shaking hands could've and leaving his tie on for fun.

"You better fuck me good, loser. There's no hurry this time," she said, stroking his cock as he poured kisses over her face, neck and chest. Had this really been the first time they'd been able to screw with no one around, no time restraint? Just straight up fucking. Though they had stuck true to their tradition of fucking in odd places.

Ben guided himself into April and she rode him smoothly and tenderly at first, not at all like she had on the toilet just last weekend. His arms were wrapped around her and he kissed her neck as she moaned into his ear. Her movements on him became quicker and when Ben could tell she was about to come, he lowered his hand and rubbed her gently until she let out a soft wail into his ear.

She panted in his arms but still hungered for more, as did he. He pushed her over gently and lay her down onto the car seat. She squirmed under the weight of his body not entirely comfortable with having absolutely no control but he pushed down on her shoulders, sucked on her collarbone and breasts and pumped into her faster than he had before. She cried out his name, pulled his hair and dug her nails into his back. Every now and then she'd kiss the mark she'd left on his lip, making him cringe and curse her.

"Fucking, stop touching it!" he said, and leaned in to nip at her ear.

"Ow!" she called out, and tried to kick his ass with a twitching leg. "Fuck you, Ben."

"Fuck you whore, why are you so shitty today?" he breathed out, pumping harder. "You haven't made me come yet - what the fuck is wrong with you?"

"I don't know but your dicks so fucking small I only - oh! - come when you use your thumb. Fuck, Ben." She came right afterwards, the dirty talk turning them both on more than it should have.

With a few final thrusts, Ben poured into April and she pulled him in by his tie to whisper in his ear.

"You're disgusting," she breathed and ran her fingers through his hair, kissing him softly.

They cuddled for a minute afterwards and it was nice. They both enjoyed it which wasn't something easily said for those two. They didn't talk but rather teased and tormented each other, trying to prolong their time together knowing that a return to work was inevitable.

"Is this," April began, breaking a moment's silence. Ben braced himself for another insult as his young coworker squirmed out of his arms to better look him in the eye. "Bad, what we're doing?"

"Bad? I-I, I'd hardly call it 'bad.' Maybe not the best sex ever, but it's not bad."

"No, no. I mean like us doing this - is it bad? Like for Andy and Chris and all that?"

"You do know I'm not dating Chris right?"

"I can never really be sure with you."

Ben rolled his eyes and laughed and leaned in to kiss her on the cheek. "If you're asking if you're hurting Andy by doing this, then the answer is probably yes. It just depends on how much you really care."

April paused, she was often unsure if she really cared about anything. Including Andy. "I don't know. I just, I like doing this with you." A stupid smile spread across Ben's face. "And I don't really feel like I want to end it just yet."

"I'm glad."

He wished that things were as simple as they were through April's eyes. That she was still married to Andy but Ben was a free man. Ben hated lying to both of the women he was seeing - it was much harder than any one could've comically written about in a film. And that was when he realized he was becoming one of those douche bags that cheats on his girlfriend in movies. The guys that he always hated because they were complete dicks, greasy looking weirdos sniffing around and up girls' skirts. No one ever showed the movies from their point of view. The side of the men who honestly wanted to be with_ both _of the girls and would never do anything to intentionally hurt either of them. Too bad he already had.

"But seriously April, I'm not dating Chris."

"Sure."


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's note: Hellooo - so this is getting a lot of hits and all that but it still doesn't have any reviews (probably because how cracky the pairing is.) But please I'd love to hear whatever opinion you have on the story and pairing! Thanks and I hope all those who are reading are enjoying. :)**

* * *

><p>"You seem distant," Leslie said after a prolonged silence.<p>

"Um… what?" He hadn't been paying attention to what she'd been saying before and hoped it wasn't important.

"Are you feeling alright?" she cuddled up under his arm and he didn't really budge.

"Yeah, yeah of course. Why?"

"Well, you're just quiet and you know…"

"No, what?"

She became nervous and fidgeted with her thumbs. "Do you remember when we first started dating and how fun that was?"

"Mhm." Was anything different now?

"Well…" she snuggled up against his bare chest some more and he tried his best to feel repulsed. "We should do that kind of stuff again…"

"I really am not sure what you're talking about."

"You know like Margaret Thatcher… President Reagan… Pelosi."

"Oh, you miss Pelosi, hm?" He teased and looked down at her. He hated how much he loved being with Leslie because half the time he wished she were more like April. The cute and sweet thing got old really quick. Why would someone as awkward as Ben want to be with someone as awkward as Leslie? Things weren't always super lively in the bedroom.

"Want to stay the night?"

Ben groaned. He wanted so badly to stay with Leslie overnight but April would ask why he didn't come home that night and then he'd stutter awkwardly and she'd do something awful like threaten not to sleep with him. And he couldn't get away with wearing the same blue plaid shirt two days in a row.

"I-I-" he glanced over at her alarm clock. It was already ten o'clock.

"Come on, please. Don't be mean Ben, again."

"Oh, come on!" he laughed. "Fine. But you gotta stop calling me _mean Ben_."

"Yay! Nice Ben!"

The rest of the night was spent with Leslie under Ben's arm, casually chatting and laughing and joking with the occasional occurrence of political role play. He pushed April into the back of his mind and focused on his relationship with Leslie, something that always seemed much more real and often much more important. But when the time came to sleep, he found it nearly impossible to fall asleep. Leslie, who he'd known rarely was able to sleep well at night, even fell asleep before midnight eased by the presence of her lover. But Ben lay there for what felt like hours, though was only a mere twenty minutes, before he got out of bed. It was difficult to get Leslie off his arm without waking her but he was surprisingly successful. He paced for a moment, taking peaks out the window, wandering down the hall and ultimately finding his phone on the cluttered kitchen table. He checked it, not expecting there to be any messages or calls, but to his surprise had one of each. The call was from April and Andy's home and the text was from April's cellphone an hour after the call.

_Where the fuck are you? Andy thinks you're dead._

He checked the clock. It was just past twelve-thirty; she'd sent the text only a half-hour ago.

_Don't wait up. I'll see you at work._

He wondered how long it would take April to answer. She might not answer at all though he liked to imagine her leaping from the couch to the coffee table to answer the phone. Judging by her quick response, that seemed highly probable.

_Where are you?_

_Why do you care?_

Her response didn't come immediately.

_I don't._

Fuck. He had to tell her now.

_Would you care if I were laying half-dead in the street?_

_No._

_Would you care if I were sleeping with someone else?_

Another long pause before her next response.

_Maybe._

He grinned to himself. This made him much happier than it should have. He liked the idea that he had to potential to make her as jealous as she and Andy made him.

_I'll see you in the morning._

_Goodnight._

Having stayed up too late thinking about April and not about the woman sleeping beside him, Ben was very late coming into work. He had to take a quick spin home to find a change of clothes (he felt a bit disgusting wearing the same clothes from the day before) and then got stuck in the mid-morning traffic.

"Ben Wyatt, where have you been?"

"Over slept, got caught in traffic." Excuses, excuses.

"Didn't have time to shave either, it looks like."

Ben felt his face, not having noticed before that the scruff was growing a bit out of control. "Apparently not."

"Well, I'm out for lunch today with some friends from Indianapolis. I'll need you to hold down the fort while I'm gone."

"Ay, ay captain." He joked along but Chris didn't seem to get it. Being alone for the afternoon didn't sound too bad, though no doubt he'd either have to deal with Leslie or April. Or both.

Lunchtime came and Chris left and before Leslie took her usual perch outside with Ann, she popped into Ben's office to pay him a quick hello.

"Hey, where's Chris?"

"Lunch with friends." They both exchanged smiles and Leslie approached his desk slowly, taking caution. He stood up and wrapped his arms around her, moving her giggling body to a nook behind his desk hidden from view.

They made out for only a minute, something they rarely had time to do during the day. It was nice and Ben didn't think about April once the entire time. Until, of course, her heard footsteps enter the room followed by the shocking presence of silence. Leslie had stopped kissing him and stood frozen, staring at the body behind him. Ben didn't want to turn around, he'd rather melt into the carpet and stay there for a few days.

"I-i-it's not what it looks like!" stammered Leslie nervously, though she couldn't even bother to lie any further. "April, please," she pushed Ben aside and he cursed repetitively in his mind before turning and making quick eye contact with April. "Please don't tell anyone. We could lose our jobs a-and-"

"Yeah, I know. I don't care. Who am I gonna tell?"

"No one else can know April, please," she approached April and smiled. April was clearly upset but tried to push it aside from her vacant expression. "Please?"

"Yeah, yeah whatever. Just- I-I'm gonna go get lunch-" she started to run from the room.

"Wait, April!" Ben called after her and she stopped. "Did you come in here for something or uhh…?"

She took a deep breath but kept her head turned away from Ben. He feared for a minute she might be crying but thought it'd be asking too much for her to have actual emotions for him.

"No." And she left.

"Oh my god, Ben." Leslie sighed and sat down. "We're so stupid. Why do we keep doing this?"

"I-I don't know. We can't… ever let that happen again." That was what she wanted to hear but he didn't really mean it. He didn't care anymore. April knew. She'd always sort of known, but now she really knew. He didn't care about anyone else.

Leslie left his office for lunch with Ann and he stayed in his office alone. He hadn't had time to pack a lunch and getting up to get something would probably mean bumping into April. He knew nothing good would come of this.

The day dragged on with Ben ignoring both Leslie and April though wanting to talk to April more than anything else in the world. Chris' lunch had gone longer than expected so he never returned to City Hall. Ben spent most of the day alone until, just before the end of the day, April came to pay him a visit.

"When were you planning on telling me this?" she said, slamming the door behind her.

"I-I- I can explain."

"No! I don't want you to explain! How long have you been seeing Leslie?" She was frantic and very upset.

"I think that counts as an explanation."

"Don't fuck around Ben. Just tell me."

"We've been dating since May, okay? Way before I even considered looking at you."

"So." A faint light turned on behind her eyes. "You're cheating on her… with me?"

"Um… yeah, I guess so."

"Just like how I'm cheating on you with Andy?"

"Yes." Ben couldn't really understand what was confusing April.

"Thank god," she sighed and plopped down in a chair opposite his desk.

"Excuse me?"

"I thought you were cheating on me with Leslie. Like I wasn't good enough and you had to turn to," she paused and laughed for a second. Ben wasn't amused. "You had to turn to Leslie… sorry. It's just a funny thought."

"You're a horrible person, April." He tilted his head back and sighed. "I'm sorry April. For um, uh lying to you."

"I don't care."

"What?"

"I don't care." They met eyes. She wasn't joking. She really didn't care. "You're allowed to have a life. And this just proves that you're not desperate for a fuck or gay or something."

"Told you I wasn't dating Chris." They laughed.

April stood slowly and approached Ben with a seductive glow in her eyes. He knew what that meant.

"I won't be mad at you as long as you promise that I can fuck better than her."

He swallowed hard and nervously looked around. "April, I'm pretty sure she's still in the building. We can't do this now."

"Ugh!" she groaned loudly and made an angry face at him. He tried not to laugh. It was pretty adorable. "But when we get home Andy's stupid band or something will there and we won't be able to and I want you now."

"Wow, um, okay." He wasn't sure if anyone had so bluntly stated that they wanted him before. He got up and walked into the hall, checking for people. He spotted Leslie down the hall in her office.

"Just real quick Ben!"

He felt nervous doing this here again. He'd already gotten caught once today – being caught with his much younger, married co-worker would be much more awful than getting caught with Leslie. He shut the door to his office and locked the door. All the blinds had already been closed so it looked like he'd gone home. They could pull this off.

Before he had a chance to even collect his thoughts, April was on him at the door, cardigan in a ball on the floor. She pushed him against the door, mouth seeming glued to his lips.

"April, April, not against the door," he managed to say. She jumped into his arms, legs straddled around his back, giving him no choice but to steady himself quickly enough so he could carry her to the other side of the room before she tore all of his clothes off. He wobbled through the office trying to find a place to put her down or something but she remained latched around his neck, planting a thousand kisses down his face. He lowered her down the center of the room on the floor and they sat and made out for a minute. It wasn't nice or romantic – more violent than anything. April pushed her hands against his chest and forced him onto his back on the floor. Ben was breathing heavily trying to suppress a smile or some ungodly noise.

She unbuckled his pants quickly with nimble fingers just as she always seemed to be able to do and pulled off her own pants, leaving them dangling over one ankle. She swung her other leg across his lap and lowered her head to his crotch, working her mouth around his stiff cock. All he can think is _don't bite down, please god, don't bite down_. It's not an unreasonable wish. She bobbed her head up and down and he tried to relax, tried to forget that he knew nearly every single person in the building. She soon got bored giving him head, naturally, and crawled up his body, sliding over him. They tried to suppress their noises as much as they could knowing that they had co-workers just next door and across the hall.

Everything went fine for a minute. April pushed down on Ben, restricting his movement to nearly nothing and bounced faster than what was entirely comfortable. And then she started shouting at him.

"Ew Ben, I can't believe you're fucking Leslie!"

"Wow, that's probably not the best thing - oh god – to say when you're – fuck – fucking me."

"I don't – mmm – fucking care! That's disgusting!"

"Can we think about b-b-better things when we're doing… this?"

"Shut up!" she said this much too loud. Ben was sure someone hear. But before he had time to say anything, she slapped him hard across the face leaving a red streak on his cheek

"Ow fuck! What the fuck is wrong with you?"

She continued to fuck him as he shouted expletives at her such as "get the fuck off me you psychotic bitch." She left right after they were done, leaving Ben to clean up his dignity and force himself to talk to Leslie. Why couldn't anything be normal? His girlfriend was too shy and nerdy to have that exciting edge he looked for in a girl and his lover was too crazy and jealous (and married) to even have normal unadulterated sex with. Nothing felt right with either of them. He denied spending the evening with Leslie using the excuse to that he needed to talk to April about not telling anyone. At least that wasn't a total lie. He did need to talk to April but more about why she decided to physically abuse him during sex and wish that she wasn't as bitter as she acted about Leslie – despite the fact she'd verbally denied it. This was the first day in a while that he desperately wanted his own place. One far away from April and far away from Leslie. Where he could see them at his leisure and live his life like a normal person, not one that had to shuffle one confusing lifestyle with another.


	9. Chapter 9

**_Author's Note: Be sure to review! Thanks :)_**

* * *

><p>Andy's car wasn't in the driveway when Ben pulled up to the house. It seemed so unlikely that Andy actually had some place to be that he was sure April had arranged something for him. He checked his face in the rearview mirror before going inside; a huge red patch still throbbed on his face but the swelling on his lip had gone down. He kept saying he'd get her back for doing these things to him but he couldn't ever think of anything. Humiliating her in front of the entire office didn't even seem to measure up to the ache in his face at that moment.<p>

Inside the house, April sat alone in front of the television paying no attention to it and instead focusing on her iPod. She hadn't heard him come in, or if she had she didn't seem to care. She nursed a beer and had two empty ones in front of her. Ben hoped at least one had been Andy's.

"April," he said but she didn't move. He approached the couch slowly and leaned against a wall, waiting for her to notice him. He saw that she'd seen him in her peripheral vision him but she still pretended she was doing something very important on her iPod.

"April," he said a bit more briskly. He was tired of letting her be in charge of what happened between them.

"What, loser?"

"Can we have a normal conversation or are you just gonna stare at your iPod?"

"Ugh!" she threw her head back and set down her iPod. "What?" she drew out the word and groaned as if it were punishment to talk to him.

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Excuse me? You can't yell at me in my own house!"

"I'm pretty sure you'd be living in a pile of your own shit and eating off Frisbees if I didn't live here."

"So?"

"So – I live here too. And this has nothing to do with who owns the house. I just want to know why you told me that you are fine with me and Leslie when clearly you're not."

"I don't understand." She took a long drink from her beer.

"Why are you so fucked up?"

"I think you should be asking yourself that question," she sounded drunk when she said this.

"April!" He was tired of her childish banter. "We need to stop this."

"What? Why?"

"Because clearly you can't handle me being with Leslie and I can't handle you being with Andy and neither of us are dumping them any time soon."

April knew he was right. "I could… pretend to handle you with Leslie… if I had to."

"It's too late."

He sighed and walked away, instantly regretting what he had said. He'd have to really move out now, take things more seriously with Leslie.

"Ben!" April hollered after him, giggling. She had to support her weight on the couch to prevent herself from falling over. "Mister Wyatt! Get yourself back here, sir."

"April, what the fuck, not now." He paused and turned to her; her beer, her third beer, remained clutched in her fist nearing it towards her lips. She inched near Ben as steadily as she could. "Ben this is stupid. I don't care about Leslie… you don't care about Andy. We like to fuck each other – what's the problem?"

Ben squinted his eyes at her and frowned. Was she serious – did she really want to stay together with him or was she just too drunk to think straight? She couldn't have been _that _drunk.

"I'm gonna have a beer," Ben suggested, stepping aside towards the kitchen. "So we can talk about this." He wasn't sure what the logic was behind this, he just really needed a beer.

April returned to her seat on the couch and Ben joined her with a cold beer in hand. She leaned over a kissed the red patch on his cheek.

"Sorry I hit you," she slurred. "It seemed appropriate at the time." She waited for a response from him but he didn't have one. He sipped on his beer, trying to act like they were just two normal housemates instead of fuck buddies. It was very difficult. And he found it especially difficult when she lay her head down into his lap and his left hand found itself stroking her hair. She didn't move for a while and he couldn't see if her eyes were closed or not. He wished for a minute that he could cuddle next to her, instead of being left on the outside to stroke her hair. He remembered that he was trying to not think of her in that way and then he stopped caring.

He was noticeably hard within the next few seconds and was both embarrassed because he knew she could feel it and in slight pain because the side of her head was pushing down on him.

"Ew, you've got a boner," she said monotone. He knew that she was probably grinning to some extent and was upset he couldn't see her.

"That's what tends to happen… when you have a penis." He drew out the last clause of his sentence and April turned her head to look up to him.

"Ew, don't use that word."

"What? Penis?"

"Yeah, it's gross."

"The word penis is gross to you? Are you sure you're not still in middle school?"

"Yeah, it's a gross word. Only old people use it." Ben feared for a moment that April thought he was old, but she let a silly smirk sit on her face and gazed at him and he felt better.

He resisted the terrible, terrible urge to run his hands down her chest and stomach. He didn't know who he was kidding, trying to pretend that he didn't to be with her. That he didn't want to be with her more than anyone else he knew. She sat up and Ben's heart dropped, thinking she was leaving, but she kept her eyes on him, a smile still plastered on her face. It was odd to see her look so genuinely happy for longer than a five second span of time. She actually enjoyed being with him, maybe even as much as he enjoyed being with her. He wrapped his arms around her back and held her to his chest. When he hesitated too long to kiss her, she took the liberty to act first.

It was one of the first nice kisses that they shared together. Soft and tender, unlike most kisses Ben had ever shared with anyone. A horrible word fell into Ben's mind that he tried desperately to erase but it lingered for much longer than he would've liked.

"Shall we retire to the bedroom, Mr. Wyatt?" April whispered into his ear.

"When's Andy coming back?" Always a priority in Ben's mind. He figured he was still too young to die.

"Tomorrow afternoon. It's his mom's dog's birthday. _He's not getting any younger_." She said it as if that's how she'd said it to Andy. He planted another lingering kiss on her.

"Come on," she said into his parted lips, beginning to stand, clutching his hand. He stood along with her her, lips still pressed to hers, walking her backwards into his bedroom. Doing it in the bedroom with April seemed so foreign. April attempted to turn Ben around, to have her turn at pushing him into the room. They'd just reached the doorway to his room and _whack_, Ben's head smacked against the wall.

"Oh, shit," April said, grabbing his face. His eyes started to roll shut as he struggled in and out of consciousness for a second. The room was spinning, he forgot what was happening. April's hands on his face felt hot and cold at the same time and the next thing he knew he was laying on his bed, head nestled into her lap as she stroked his face with a warm towel.

"You trying to kill me Lugate?" he managed to say.

"You're alive!" she exclaimed and threw her body around him. "Thank god, I thought I'd have to bury you in the backyard and push your car into a lake."

"Sorry I had to deprive you of that."

"Don't be stupid." She continued nursing a large bump on his head that he'd just become consciously aware of. His face contorted in pain and she leaned over and kissed his forehead.

"And things were going so well," he tried to hint that he still wanted more from her but he wasn't thinking straight.

"Maybe another time," she cooed

They ordered take-out and finished off Andy's six-pack and talked nonsensically over the sound of the buzzing old television in Ben's room which only received two channels and just sort of cuddled in his bed for the rest of the night. April didn't bother sleeping in her own bed; Ben whined too much stating that if he died in the middle of the night he didn't want to be alone. They laughed at how corny he sounded with the help of a few pain meds but Ben knew what he was saying wasn't any different from his actual feelings. The word he was thinking earlier, that he could probably verbalize now if he wanted to, burned in his mind again. He wanted so badly for it not to be true.


	10. Chapter 10

"Ben Wyatt!"

Chris Fuckhead Traeger. "Hey."

"Are you growing a beard?"

"Um…" Self-consciously feeling his face had turned into something he couldn't stop doing whenever someone asked him that question. "No." He would have to shave this weekend.

"Ah." Chris looked back down to his desk but Ben could tell he wasn't done talking to him. "You don't have anything planned for tonight, do you?"

Besides fucking April? "No, no I don't think so. Are you asking me out on a date?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact! I have _literally_ found the perfect woman for you. We're going on a double date tonight."

"So you set me up on another date without asking me first?"

"Yes Ben but you do not understand. She is just your type. I am going out with my old friend and she asked me if I knew anyone for her friend, Ingrid. She's smart, pretty, tall, brunette."

"Chris we went over the 'tall, brunette' thing already."

"Ben Wyatt," he smiled as if Ben had no choice but to say yes. "You know it'll be good for you to go out. It's Friday night, have some fun. One little date won't hurt you."

It'd be so much easier to tell Chris that he was already dating someone. Or it would be easy if Chris weren't so nosey and wouldn't want to know everything about her.

"Fine. One date. I'm not paying."

"Fair enough," Chris grinned and went back to his work. Ben groaned and hoped Chris wouldn't bring this up in front of anyone.

"Ben, Ben, Ben, Ben, Ben!" People just really liked saying his name, didn't they?

"Oh hey, Leslie." She walked further into his office, Ben checked to see if Chris was gone.

"So," she smiled at him, cute as ever. "What're we doing tonight?"

"Um… well I've actually got this thing with Chris." He didn't need to lie to her, but he'd gotten so in the habit of doing it. It would've been so much easier to explain Chris' stupid double date idea to her and why he had to go and how much he'd make up for it when he got back that evening. But it was too late, he couldn't stop himself from lying. "Meeting up with old friends from Indianapolis. I'd invite you but it's a little-"

"No, no I understand. Maybe tomorrow night then?"

"Yeah? Yeah! Okay, cool," he smiled and nodded his head, probably looking stupid but he was too happy he'd actually gotten away with lying to Leslie again.

"Oh, shit," he muttered under his breath. His head began to ache. He clutched the welt on the top of his head and winced for a minute in pain.

"W-what is it?"

"Oh, nothing. I uh bumped my head last night and I think the pain meds are wearing off."

"Is it that bad?"

"I might've fallen slightly out of consciousness."

"Jesus Christ, Ben!" Leslie rushed over to his side and tried to examine the injury. "Do you have a concussion or something? Do you want me to get Ann in here?"

"N-n-no, that's fine. I'm fine. I just need to see April really quick." Oops.

"April? Why April?"

Ben froze, making whatever may have been not obvious at all suddenly totally obvious. "They're her pills. Er... um she was holding on to them for me. Because you know we live together and uh she gave me the pills after I uh hit my head. And she still has them… so uh, uh yeah."

Leslie laughed. "That's funny. Does April take the pills for anything?"

"I uh uh how should I know? I'm not her-her-her pharmacist or anything."

"Calm down Ben, it was just a question."

"Right, right." He stood up and left as if he was trying to be as awkward as physically possible, but really he was just being himself.

"April," he said when he approached her desk, panting and sweating, his head throbbing with pain. He thought it would explode.

"Oh my god what's wrong with you?" He couldn't tell if she was genuinely concerned or just insulting him for the sake of insulting him.

"I-I need more - can I uh um uh - the pills?" His winced trying to not to focus on the pain.

"Oh!" She let out a quick laugh. "Did your meds wear off? I told you those were strong. Here," she produced the small orange canister from her purse and handed him two pills. He popped them into his mouth without hesitation.

"You know you need water or something to take those?" her eyes widened at him. He didn't swallow.

The two pills sat on his tongue as he spoke. He knew he had a hard time getting pills down. "Duh, I've taken pills before."

"Here, idiot," she handed him the water bottle. It took him a few tries but eventually he was able to swallow them both. He even left a little bit of water for April.

"So are we fucking tonight?" she said under her breath. No one was really around to hear her.

"Only if your asshole husband isn't around and you don't try to knock me unconscious again."

"Try? I'm pretty sure I succeeded."

"Well try not to totally kill me this time." Ben smiled at her. He couldn't help it. He loved whatever fucked up relationship they had together so much. He wasn't even as awkward around her as he was with nearly everyone else on the planet.

"So you're little Benji Wyatt?" Why did every first date seem to start this way? It wasn't like he even told people about it. They just somehow always managed to figure it out.

"Um, yep."

Chris was already all over his girl, Jennifer something. Ben was stuck with the "lovely" – and by lovely he meant the absolute opposite of lovely – Ingrid Jacobs. She wasn't what Ben would call any of the things Chris had used to describe her. Pretty? Sure, if she were standing in a group of ugly hookers. Smart – that one was still up for debate; she'd just told him this story about the time she misplaced her Great Dane. Brunette, yes, but with hideous randomly arrayed blonde highlights. Tall - she was maybe 5'4'' with heels on. But he didn't care much for tall girls recently anyways.

"Oh my gosh, I remember hearing about you when I was in grade school! Me and all my friends thought you were so cute. My best friend's boyfriend dressed up as you for Halloween. You were sort of like a town hero."

"Are you from Partridge?" Surely someone who knew this much about him had to be from his hometown.

"Nope. Jackson, Mississippi." The thought of having a small fan club in Mississippi gave Ben the chills.

"Huh."

Ben sat in silence far too often for being engaged in a conversation. Ingrid talked almost incessantly. And of course Chris was in his own little world with Jennifer the bleach blonde beauty-school student who was at least ten-times a better catch than Ingrid. Chris knew how to keep the good ones for himself.

"So like you work in politics, right? Are you going to be the president some day?"

"Um, probably not."

"You should be… then you could give me a tour of the White House."

"You know, you could actually go to DC any day of the year and get a tour of the White House."

She laughed one of those semi-forced-bimbo laughs. "You're so funny!"

_Was this a nightmare?_

The end of the date came much later than Ben had wanted it to. He stole a few extra glasses of wine and at one point in the evening when a very slight headache came along he popped in one of April's pain pills. He had an excuse –the bump of his head was developing into a very large and painful bruise. Also, Ingrid was fucking annoying.

"So, what are you doing tonight?" Ingrid nuzzled next to him on the bench of the booth and Adam wished he could be absolutely anywhere in the world other than in that restaurant. Preferably April's bed.

"Um… after this? I'm going home to… watch television."

"Ooo… sounds sexy."

"Um actually no. The exact opposite of, really."

She did the wannabe Julia Roberts laugh again. "You're sooooo funny." Was she on drugs? Seriously. Was Chris paying her to act this way? Or did people like this actually exist.

"Ben, Ingrid, if you don't mind," Chris began. "Jennifer and I are going out for a drive." That was Chris talk for _we're going back to my place to fuck. _Ingrid smiled and giggled with her friend.

"You two have any plans?" Jennifer joked. Ben began to open his mouth but Ingrid beat him to it.

"Actually, Ben and I were just talking about going back to his place afterwards."

"Wait, uh n-" He was interrupted by more obnoxious female giggles. Chris gave Ben this look that said _You might as well go for it, who knows the next time you'll get laid. _But he _was_ getting laid!

The four walked to the parking lot together. They said their goodbyes and while both girls were preoccupied Chris whispered to Ben.

"Ben, don't screw this up! You're a lucky guy to get Ingrid. She really likes you, you know."

"Chris, she's a complete idiot."

"She graduated top of her class."

"She's from Mississippi." Ben actually didn't know any stereotypes about people from Mississippi being stupid. It just seemed to fit with Ingrid.

"Give her a chance. Take her home. See what happens." He patted him on the back and walked with his arm around Ingrid to his car.

"Oooh Benji! Where's your car, it's so cold outside."

When they pulled into the driveway, Andy's car was already there. Shit. He'd figured he could weasel his way around April but not with both April and Andy. There'd be no way this could go well. On the bright side: he wouldn't have to sleep with Ingrid.

"Do you live with someone else, Benji?" She'd called him nothing but Benji the entire evening.

"Yeah. Just a uh roommate. Should leave us alone…" He'd mumbled and she hadn't really understood what he said.

They approached the front door, Ingrid's arm wrapped around Ben's waist and Ben's hands shaking.

The house was dark when they stepped inside, aside from the flashing light from the television.

"Loser are you home!" called April from the couch. Shit.

"Benji?" Ingrid muttered.

April turned around, her eyes bulging at the sight of what looked sort of like a hooker at his side. She didn't speak. She simply stood from the couch and sauntered slowly towards him. She wore nothing but a very short silk bathrobe which he'd only seen her wear over pajamas in the early morning before. She must've really intended on sleeping with him that night.

"And who is this Ben?" she said folding her arms and tapping her foot lightly. He knew what she was doing immediately and he wasn't sure he agreed that it was the best choice.

"Um… Ingrid… Ingrid Jacobs."

"And who the hell is this, Ben?" Ingrid was angry. She was shooting darts at April with her eyes.

"The name's April. April Wyatt. I'm Ben's fucking wife. Who the hell are you?" She held out her hand to show the simple gold wedding band Andy had given her. Shit. He didn't think she'd go this far.

"Wife? What the hell Ben?"

"Sh-she uhhh… I um…"

"Oh shut up Ben! Is this another hooker of yours? That's the fourth one this month!" April was having a bit too much fun with this.

"N-n-n-n-no! I-" Ben was shaking. He wanted to get rid of Ingrid so bad but this was almost humiliating.

"I'm not a hooker, you whore! How old are you? Sixteen? I could tell you were a pedophile, Ben!" Ingrid lingered around for a moment longer.

"Should I uh call a cab for you?" Ben offered awkwardly. He met eyes with April and she grinned.

"Make sure she gets her whore money back."

Ingrid all but lunged at April. April stood smirking, taunting her with a small half smile.

"Fuck you both. This marriage won't last longer than a year. You're both horrible fucking people!" Neither of them were affected by this insult. It was more of a blatant fact than anything hurtful.

Ingrid hobbled to the door on her stripper heels, pulling her cellphone from her pocket. She was probably texting Jennifer about the disaster. Chris would hear about this, Ben knew it. He'd deal with it when he had to.

"Care to explain?" April said through a laugh. Ben couldn't help but laugh along.

"Chris has a very distorted view on what I find attractive in a woman."

"I don't know, she kind of reminded me of Leslie."

"Oh shut up," Ben moved in and kissed her. "Andy?" he whispered.

"Sleeping, we just have to be quiet."

April dropped her bathrobe to the ground quicker than Ben could mentally prepare himself for what was to happen next. She stood stark naked before him and he tried to suppress his eyes from bulging. He grinned and she got mad he wasn't taking his clothes off quick enough. April opened her mouth to say something witty and sarcastic but Ben had already moved in to kiss her. He felt her mouth slide into a grin against his skin as if she wasn't trying to hide that faint smile any more. He lifted her up slightly from the ground and she squealed and then covered it up with a giggle remembering not to wake her snoring husband in the next room.

"Shut the fuck up," he mumbled, laughing into her mouth. They were acting much gigglier than he recalled ever acting together before.

"Make me." She faked a blank expression but broke with laughter immediately. She wrapped her legs around his back, waiting for him to do something. He just wanted to stand there and kiss her, take it slow for once. Not that he wasn't incredibly horny, because he definitely was, but something about this evening just felt more sentimental. Maybe it was the comparison of going from Ingrid to April. He didn't even want to think that he had considered for a second sleeping with Ingrid. He had April and Leslie, he didn't need to please anyone else.

Ben carried her over to the couch, only bumping into one wall on his journey there. The house was completely dark and the only sounds came from the refrigerator and Andy. Ben had April pinned to the couch as he removed his clothes and she struggled, trying to decide if she should be acting giggly, sexy or nonchalant. It wasn't until Ben and April had succeeded at removing all of Ben's clothes did she speak.

"So when are we going to talk about you bringing home a hooker?"

"Ugh! Shut up, please." He leaned down and kissed her neck. "Chris set me up on a date with her."

April snorted out a laugh. "Two girls isn't enough?" It was the most cynical thing she'd said all evening and he didn't seem to care.

"Shh," he attempted to shush through another uncontrollable wave of laughter. She was smiling at him so wide. He couldn't figure out why but he couldn't think of anything better in the world - just that she was beautiful and she was happy with him. When he pushed into her she wailed softly, not expecting it at first but enjoying it immediately. He shushed her again, placing his hand lightly over her mouth. She pushed it away and held her lips together tight as their hips rocked together in sync. Andy let out a booming snore from the other room that they tried to ignore but were glad to hear; it meant he was still sleeping. The worst possible outcome would be for him to walk in on them like this, especially when it was going so well.

Everything between them was going well. If it had been anything close to a real relationship, they'd probably be very close to becoming quite serious. They'd had arguments before and everything, it was like they were a real couple only burdened by a marriage and another office affair.

They seemed to gasp for breath in unison and their hips rocked together less out of sync than usual. When April's nails dug into Ben's shoulder blades he didn't curse her, verbally or mentally, because he now understood that that meant she liked it not that she was trying to torture him – though the two somehow seemed synonymous.

"Ben," she whimpered softly into his ear as she linked her feet around his lower back. When she arched her back, ready to come, Ben pushed into her deeper and faster. It took every ounce of control for her not to cry out. Although she'd done all she could to forget her sleeping husband in the next room she couldn't let anything too loud slip from her mouth.

Ben rolled to April's side when he'd finished and allowed her to nuzzle into his chest for a moment. He made the mistake of speaking.

"That was fun."

"You're lame," she said not making eye contact with him. Something in her demeanor had changed in the last few moments. She didn't seem so interested in him anymore and she certainly didn't seem so keen on cuddling. She wiped her hand across her mouth and looked up at him threw squinted eyes. He waited for her to speak because he certainly didn't know what to say after being called lame after having amazing sex. He wanted some sort of hint that what she was feeling about their relationship – or whatever it was – was somewhat similar to his. That she also sensed that things were changing between them and would continue to change if they continued sleeping together. It was becoming evident that no matter how much they never intended to form any sort feelings for one another, feelings were arising at least within Ben. He found it hard to believe April didn't have any feelings for him., too

"Are you… alright?" It was a horrible question, he had to say something. She closed her eyes for a moment and then looked at him. He could've sworn for a moment that he noticed a glimmer of a tear in one of her eyes but he couldn't be certain. "April?"

She opened her mouth to speak but before any words left her mouth a loud snore from down the hall startled them both. She sat up quickly and stood to retrieve her silk robe. "I'm tired. Pick up your clothes off the ground or I'll tell Andy you're bringing hookers into the house."

"Would he even care?" He had so many other things he could say to her, but this one seemed like the least emotionally charged question. April slipped her robe over her shadowed naked frame and slid into her bedroom to lie next to her husband for the remainder of the evening.

Ben felt like he was going to be sick. He didn't want to move but realized how awkward it would be when Andy came out to the living room in the early afternoon to find Ben passed out naked on the couch as April whispered in his ear "I think he had a hooker here last night."

He couldn't find it in himself to move, though. He lowered his hand to feel the warm spot where April had lain beside him and tried to imagine she was still there. He was cold and wanted to be under the covers in his room but didn't want to retire to an empty bed. It was incredible how difficult this was becoming. How it now physically ached to be in the same household as April and Andy. How he couldn't even sleep that night because he couldn't decide if he wanted to let the tears welling in his eyes flow freely or stay pooled in his eyelids. And how the seemingly never ending snores were a not-so friendly reminder that he had to share the only woman he cared about and how he kept forgetting that the woman he was supposed to care about unknowingly had to share him.


End file.
